Feeding Program
What is Feeding?
The definition of feed is to furnish something essential to the development, sustenance, maintenance, or operation (Merriam-Webster, 2025). Feeding does not only involve food consumed during digestion, but it also involves facilitating an environment of access and sustainability; discovering innate, holistic vehicles of fulfillment and nourishment; positioning one’s self for the absorption of positive environments; and nurturing partnerships that will produce great relationships and healthy returns on investments.
The USDA Nutrition Hub is fostering relationships with internal and external partners and stakeholders as well as leveraging resources from donors and local resources to ensure that Louisiana communities are fed and sustained through the mind, body, and spirit. Programs that address food insecurity cross-collaborate into a mission-driven pillar of the Hub’s approach to feed and nurture.
Programs and Initiatives:
1. Food Pantry Partnership
The USDA Nutrition Hub is partnering with the College of Agriculture DieteticInternship Program to facilitate the Southern University Food Insecurity Project. Alarming national statistics show that 40% of all college students experience food insecurity. As of 2025, Southern University enrolled 8,300 students. Food insecurity refers to the lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. It is a condition where individuals or households do not have reliable access to affordable, nutritious food due to financial constraints or other factors. This can range from worrying about running out of food to skipping meals or reducing portion sizes.The impact of food insecurity includes poor health, malnutrition, and a decreased quality of life, which can negatively affect academic performance and overall well-being.
November 2024, a significant step was taken to combat food insecurity on Southern’s campus through partnerships with Representative Vanessa LaFleur and the Baton Rouge Delta Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. Three community refrigerators and pantries were installed strategically around Southern University’s campus and the neighboring Scotlandville community to offer food and sanitary products to people in need. The locations are:
• Southern University Baton Rouge Campus: Pinkie Thrift Hall and the Intramural Recreation Center
• Little Zion Baptist Church: 1955 74th Ave, Baton Rouge, LA 70807.
The project was made possible through a partnership with the My Kid Plate Foundation and the SU College of Agriculture Dietetic Internship Program. Each week, dietetic interns and student volunteers prepare andstock healthy food options in each location. Menu items include: Vegetable Pasta Salad, Vegetable Stir Fry, Fruit Parfaits, Turkey and Cheese Sandwiches, Turkey Wraps and Garden Salad with Protein.
All Dietetic interns have the Manager’s ServSafe Certification. This certification is a food safety certification designed for food service managers. It is part of the ServSafe program, which is developed by the National Restaurant Association.The certification demonstrates that the manager has the knowledge necessary to manage food safety practices in a food establishment, ensuring the protection of customers and compliance with health regulations.
Since the pantries launched, over 207 students have utilized them by scanning the QR code to track usage. Data collection is ongoing to ensure that the needs of Southern University students are being met effectively.
Support and Donors: SU Lab Beta Club, Jack and Jill Organization, and the SU Agricultural Finance Team
2. Maternal Health & Breast Milk Banking
In the United States, maternal mortality is higher than any other high-income country and significant racial disparities exist. The same is true in Louisiana (LDH, 2024). Maternal mortality, especially among women of color is one of the leading causes of post-partum deaths and complications. Community organizations, government officials, and academic institutions throughout the state are working to reducing deaths and complications connected to maternal health. Complications from maternal health impact the health of the birthing person and their offspring. Chronic conditions are sometimes an underlying precursors to unsuccessful outcomes. Chronic conditions are connected to the nutrition of the birthing person and how they will nourish their child. Breast milk expression is the most natural method of feeding a baby. Some conditions or circumstances prevent or limit a birthing person from providing for their baby, which can result in malnourishment and a feeling of helplessness that can lead to depression.
Breast milk banking helps a baby by providing human donor milk. This milk can be used when a birthing person is unable to supply milk, such as during premature birth or other medical conditions. Human milk banks ensure that donor milk is available as an alternative feeding choice for newborns. It is universally accepted that breast milk is the optimum exclusive source of nutrition for the first six months of life, and may remain part of the healthy infant diet for the first two years of life and beyond. Despite advances in infant formulas, human breast milk provides a bioactive matrix of benefits that cannot be replicated by any other source of nutrition. When the mother’s own milk is unavailable for the sick, hospitalized newborn, pasteurized human donor breast milk should be made available as an alternative feeding choice followed by commercial formula (Unger, 2010).
The USDA Nutrition Hub is partnering with the Southern University School of Nursing and other external partners to ensure that Louisiana’s birthing people have enough breast milk to offer nutritious and potentially life-saving breast milk to babies and children.
The Hub is also creating educational initiatives to inform birthing people of the three stages of childbirth, which begin before and after pregnancy: antepartum, peri-partum, and post-partum. All three stages of childbearing are essential to the health, growth, and development of a birthing person, and their offspring. Proper nutrition, physical activity, sexual protection, and a healthy domestic environment are essential to a birthing person’s ability to have a successful and healthy gestational cycle.The Hub and its partners are performing outreach activities to educate people of child-bearing age as well as collaborating with local mental health ,housing, and tobacco control programs to address social determinants that serve as barriers to health and well-being.
3. Housing and the Dinner Table
There is strong evidence that residing in a food desert is correlated with a high prevalence of obesity and premature death.1-3 Supermarkets traditionally provide healthier options than convenience stores or smaller grocery stores.4 Additionally, lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables is related to premature mortality.5 Residents of lower-income neighborhoods are at a higher risk of purchasing less nutritious foods than those in higher-income areas. The cost of fresh fruits and vegetables has increased more sharply than that of calorie-dense, low-nutrient foods and beverages. As a result, lower-income individuals face greater disadvantages and are more likely to buy and consume energy-dense foods.4,5 This measure is complemented by a select measure of the food environment, which includes food insecurity and access to healthy foods (County Health Rankings,2025).
The Hub is working with residents of rent-subsidized neighborhoods, food desert communities, and food providers to introduce nutrition awareness and education efforts to adults and children. Understanding how foods impact the body; how to incorporate physical activity into daily practice; and how to moderate unhealthy meal choices will further elevate the education and action-oriented mindsets of Louisiana community as they advocate for healthier options in their neighborhoods. Cooking demonstrations and around-the-house hacks to movement and health are some of the resources The Hub brings to community.
Resources: Kim J, Unger S. Human milk banking. Paediatr Child Health. 2010 Nov; 15(9):595-602. PMID: 22043143; PMCID: PMC3009567; LDH releases 2020 maternal mortality report | Louisiana Department of Health; https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/health-data/community-conditions/health-infrastructure/health-promotion-and-harm-reduction/limited-access-to-healthy-foods?year=2025
