Scaling up change to address hunger and food waste through The Campus Kitchens Project

The Campus Kitchens Project (CKP) is an example of a successful scaled-up change initiative. Founded in 2001 as a branch of a community kitchen initiative that targeted food insecurity in Washington, D.C., United States, this non-profit is the first and largest student-led social movement taking on the crisis of food waste and hunger in the United States (Larson et al., 2017). More than 30,000 students in 63 universities, colleges and high schools are now repurposing unwanted or surplus food to provide meals to people who have food insecurity.

Working in leadership teams, student leaders and volunteers on campuses receive education, training and coaching over a period of several months to help empower people, families and communities on topics including:

• food insecurity
• improving social and nutritional health by increasing food knowledge and helping others developing cooking skills

The Campus Kitchen Project also establishes community partnerships with existing local organizations that provide services and food to individuals already challenged with food insecurity, such as senior housing facilities, youth outreach groups and churches. Local leadership teams also partner with dining services that operate large foodservice kitchens and dining halls and engage student groups and faculty advisors.

Student teams carry out different functions. While some teams focus on improving the way that homeless shelters prepare and deliver meals, other teams host communal dinners, partner with senior centers, or improve transportation to improve access to food.

“Instead of more branch offices or trying to provide all the services in-house, we find universities and students to partner with who already have the necessary resources on campus and want to do this kind of community impact work.  Turning our nation’s institutions of higher education into hubs for replication and ongoing innovation could be the superhighway to scaling up for any nonprofit.” - Laura Toscano, Director, The Campus Kitchens Project