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Colleges Should Not Have to Have Food Pantries

One of the first lessons Jalyn Wharton learned her freshman year at Kennesaw State University was how to stretch a pizza so it would feed her for a week. It wasn’t the only time she’d had to ration food. When she was in high school, her family became homeless and Wharton would sometimes eat less to make sure her younger siblings got enough. Even as her family bounced between hotels and friends’ houses, Wharton stayed focused on school. Everyone told her education was her path out of poverty. She finished high school with honors and was thrilled to get into Kennesaw State, a research institution with 35,000 students near Atlanta, Georgia.

…“We have been doing a better job of making sure low-income children feel like college is a place for them,” said Jessica Bartholow, of the Western Poverty Law Center in California. “Maybe so much so that it’s a real shock when they get here and find out that it isn’t.”

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Bauer-Kahan Scores Double Victory with Two Bills Aimed at Helping California’s College Students

On Oct. 4, Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan’s (D-Orinda) bill AB 1344 was signed into law – one of two bills by Bauer-Kahan that was signed by the Governor this week.

…“Low-income Californians are trying hard to improve their life trajectories and to strengthen their communities,” said Jessica Barthalow of the Western Center on Law & Poverty. “Too often when they manage to take one step ahead, program rules take them one step back. AB 807 helps to change that, which is why we have been proud to sponsor this important piece of legislation.”

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