Reading, PA – Shapiro Administration officials visited Reading Area Community College (RACC) today to assist with the monthly stocking of its campus food pantry, highlighting Governor Josh Shapiro's commitment to making higher education more affordable and accessible for all Pennsylvanians through initiatives like the PA Hunger-Free Campus Initiative. The PA Hunger-Free Campus Initiative began in 2022, and is a focus of First Lady Lori Shapiro and part of her work to advocate for students and families to ensure they have the support they need to thrive and live healthy, successful lives.
In his 2024-25 budget, Governor Shapiro secured $1 million to support postsecondary institutions’ efforts in addressing student hunger needs on campus. Last year, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) awarded PA Hunger-Free Campus grants to 31 institutions of higher education and private licensed schools to combat student hunger on campuses across the Commonwealth in 2025. Governor Shapiro’s 2025-26 budget proposal advocates for continued funding of this important initiative.
“At PDE, we’re all about breaking down barriers for postsecondary students and making sure that anyone who wants to pursue higher education has the opportunity to do so,” said Acting Secretary of Education Dr. Carrie Rowe. “Programs like the PA Hunger-Free Campus Initiative are key in helping meet students' basic needs, so they can focus on their studies instead of worrying about where their next meal is coming from. By supporting efforts to tackle student hunger, we’re investing in Pennsylvania’s future and making sure every student has the chance to succeed.”
For the third year in a row, RACC received a PA Hunger-Free Campus grant ($40,000) to support the Raven’s Food Pantry, which distributed 16,154 pounds of food to students in 2022 and saw an 8 percent increase in usage from 2022 to 2023.
“As a leader in the community, very often our responsibilities go beyond teaching in the classroom and extend to improving and supporting the personal lives of our students. We established the RACC Food Pantry in an effort to minimize the burdens that food insecurities can place on some of our students,” said RACC President Dr. Susan Looney.
With its 2025 grant funding, RACC plans to maintain its stock levels of fresh and non-perishable foods at the Raven’s Food Pantry; strengthen its relationship with the Helping Harvest Food Bank to provide an impactful, monthly meal distribution site for both students and Reading City residents; provide $50 meal cards to students to use to purchase hot meals while on campus, gas cards or bus passes to students with transportation barriers, and Wal-Mart gift cards; and continue its on-campus awareness campaign that educates students about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
“No one should have to risk going hungry in order to pursue an education and invest in their future,” said DHS Deputy Secretary for Income Maintenance Hoa Pham. “DHS has worked with partners in postsecondary education to ease barriers to programs like SNAP and its education and training supports that can help students meet this most essential need as they go to school, and we are proud that schools like RACC are rising to this challenge alongside the Shapiro Administration to help eliminate barriers that can hold people in poverty and empower students to reach their goals.”
The PA Hunger-Free Campus Initiative is a coalition of Pennsylvania institutions of higher education – including Reading Area Community College (RACC) -- focused on addressing hunger and other basic needs for their students, creating opportunities for connection among student hunger advocates, providing resources and strategies for campuses, and supporting opportunities to apply for grants related to addressing food insecurity.
PA Hunger-Free Campus grants are available to both PA Hunger-Free and PA Hunger-Free+ campuses. Schools with a PA Hunger-Free Campus+ designation implemented additional innovative solutions to address student hunger and other basic needs for their campus community, such as offering a variety of meal plans, including an option that provides ten or fewer meals weekly to avoid interfering with SNAP eligibility, creating or implementing meal-sharing programs, educating student leaders on campus to develop student-centered programs, or facilitating innovative community partnerships.
“You can’t feed a hungry mind on an empty stomach,” Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding said. “That is true regardless of the age of the student. The Shapiro Administration has been committed from day one to working toward a future when no one in Pennsylvania has to struggle with hunger. Hunger-Free Campus Grants are just one of a full menu of food assistance investments and initiatives the Administration offers to help feed Pennsylvania families, children, and seniors, wherever they are in life, to help them meet their daily needs so they can focus on thriving.”
Find information on food assistance programs available through the PA Department of Agriculture and its partners here, as well as resources through the PA Department of Human Services at Ending Hunger in PA.