[New post] Woodland Community College ‘Marketplace’ serves essentials to students, staff
Carlos Guerrero posted: "A space where Woodland Community College students and staff who may be food insecure – or who enjoy art – has officially opened on campus. The "Eagle's Essentials Marketplace" had its formal opening Tuesday afternoon after some three months of preparat" Daily Democrat
A space where Woodland Community College students and staff who may be food insecure – or who enjoy art – has officially opened on campus.
The "Eagle's Essentials Marketplace" had its formal opening Tuesday afternoon after some three months of preparation, including the creation of a mural by students of the school's Mural Class.
"We came together and created a space where we could be a community and address our basic needs, which to us are human rights," said Lisceth Brazil-Cruz, vice president of student services for the college. "So we really hope that our students love this space as much as we do. There has been a lot of heart which has been placed into this very location."
Located in Building 700 of the campus at 2300 E. Gibson Road, The Marketplace is stocked in part by contributions from the Yolo Food Bank and includes essential items such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, breads, cereals and meat as well as canned and pre-packaged food but personal hygiene products as well.
Brazil-Cruz credited Charlene Christian, the school's basic needs coordinator, with "elevating our 'little pantry'" that was once located in a closet-sized space elsewhere in the building.
"Now, we have our Marketplace which will continue to grow and really serve the needs of our students," Brazil-Cruz said of the new classroom-sized space. "I also want to thank Professor (Manuel) Fernando-Rios and his students for making this space not just a location where we can come and get fruits and vegetables and what we need but to also enjoy some really beautiful art which is an ode to our agricultural history in this area."
For her part, Christian "wanted to sing the praises of the students" who work in The Marketplace but also created the mural. "I witnessed this first hand in getting the mural done," she said.
Fernando-Rios also complimented the student artists and showcased an original sketch used as a basis for the finished art, which was created over the past semester.
Fernando-Rios said students had to learn how to take information from the sketch and fundamentally enlarge it to fill a full-sized wall.
Student Rich Kelly said the class came together "to show unity. Everyone needs to fuel their drive and we're all individually motivated. "But places like The Marketplace provide the resources for someone in need for the school day or longer. Nature provides many things for survival but to be human is more than survival. We form a community."
Woodland Community College Basic Needs Coordinator Charlene Christian credited the students of Professor Manuel Fernando-Rios with creating a unique mural that celebrates agriculture in The Eagle's Essential Marketplace. (Carlos Guerrero/Daily Democrat)
"The mural we brought forth is but one display of the community, friendship and loyalty," he added. "We took information collected from students and faculty members and merged it with the awesome creativity of the mural team. We hope to have given the school a great piece of art which can stand the test of time and bring joy to any who look upon it."
The Creation of The Marketplace is part of a statewide effort at the university and college levels to address food insecurity. The community college system of 115 on-campus colleges – which includes Woodland - received a one-time allocation of $100 million and a yearly allocation of $40 million to support coordinators like Christian.
Each campus also received extra funding based on the number of low-income students receiving the Pell grant. Any remaining funds were distributed to campuses based on the total student population and the number of low-income students.
The push to establish basic needs centers stems from a California bill passed in 2016. AB 801 required all California community colleges to establish a single point of contact for supporting students with certain basic needs and encouraged the CSU and UC campuses to do the same.
There are at least 10 rows of shelves in the Marketplace and two vertical coolers, just like any grocery store.
Items seen on the shelves range from necessities like bread, and canned meats, fruits and vegetables such as tuna and chicken, peaches, peas, beans and corn.
There are also cases of various canned or boxed soups and stews, breakfast cereals and snacks such as chips, whole wheat crackers and rice cakes, a variety of condiments, and dried foods.
The coolers contain milk, eggs, yogurt, protein drinks and bottled water along with fresh and packaged vegetables and fruits – primarily lettuce, cabbages, carrots, and citrus, depending on the time of the year.
The college itself stepped in to purchase a variety of men's and women's toiletries along with elementary class supplies such as notebooks, pens, pencils and the like.
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