Abstract
This chapter describes a participatory action research (PAR) project involving food and housing (FHI) insecure students from impacted communities in the California Central Valley who engage in research, action, and planning to address issues that impede their ability to succeed academically. FHI students completed research and are engaged in action to challenge the California State University, Stanislaus community to increase awareness of unfair systemic conditions that contribute to student FHI and to better understand and respond to the stigma and isolation students with marginalized identities experience. Students have also begun to engage in program-level planning and decision-making processes that impact the availability and delivery of resources for FHI students at CSU Stanislaus. This PAR project represents an ongoing (four year) effort and commitment by students who experience FHI, Faculty and Student Affairs professionals to work collaboratively to implement recommendations and take meaningful action that emerged from this participatory action research study.
TopGeographic, Social, And Economic Context
Migrant workers form the human backbone of one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. Mexico, Central America, and other countries have provided a pipeline of cheap, available and disposable labor in the California Central Valley since the early twentieth century. Generations of migrant farm workers have provided support within a stressful, exploitive, and labor-intensive industry (Castillo et al., 2021). Many become undocumented immigrants, clinging to hope for a better life, fleeing extreme poverty and hardship in home countries where ongoing political, social, and economic strife and devastation unfold. Ironically, while food is abundant in the Central Valley, many workers and their families face hunger and limited housing options in an industry built on exploitation and profit. Those experiencing challenges with food and housing security also often face inadequate access to basic resources like health care and education. While the setting for this struggle occurs within one of the wealthiest of the United States, international parallels regarding the exploitive and dehumanizing impacts of globalization on select and marginalized groups of people are easily drawn.
CSU Stanislaus is located in Turlock, California, and is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) that offers 45 undergraduate and 26 graduate-level programs. It is one of 23 universities in the California State University (CSU) system, which is the largest four-year public institution of higher education in the U.S. The CSU system focuses on teaching and preparing students to meet employment sector needs for post-secondary prepared professionals. CSU Stanislaus is considered a ‘commuter’ school that serves students within a six-county area with many students driving upwards of two to three hours a day to access the institution.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Participatory Social Planning: The meaningful engagement of community members who are impacted by issues of concern as decision makers in social planning, program development and evaluation.
Intersectional Identities: Social identities, such as gender, race, ethnicity, social class (poverty), religion, age, ability, sexual orientation, and gender identity, overlap in ways that intensify the impact of systemically based discrimination and oppression.
Food Insecurity: As defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (2022) where low food security is reduced “quality, variety, and desirability” of diet but where the quantity of food intake is not substantially disrupted, and very low food security is “disrupted and reduced food intake because the household lacked money and other resources for food” (para. 5).
Participatory Action Research: Community members who are impacted by issues of concern work collaboratively with researchers to frame questions and methodological approaches to engaging in research and subsequently take action to address these issues within the community.
Housing Insecurity: Experiencing, or being at risk of experiencing, homelessness. This may include lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate residence (McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act, 2000).
Basic Needs: Access to resources that adequately address the need for food, shelter, safety, security, and sleep.