YORK — Fourteen student led projects addressing food insecurity on college campuses, in high schools and in communities statewide have been awarded mini-grants from the Maine Hunger Dialogue, a University of Maine Cooperative Extension-led initiative that mobilizes the power of higher education to end hunger in the state.

The new local Maine Hunger Dialogue-funded projects include:

• York County Community College: Team members will open a resource cabinet called the Coyote Den that will be stocked with food and personal hygiene items. It will be located in a shared teacher and student lounge. In the near future, the team envisions a larger office space to accommodate a campus food pantry.

• University of New England: UNE will expand its community garden and continue to donate vegetables to its Food Recovery Program and local food pantries. UNE also is establishing a resource hub to connect at-risk students with service information and distribute food weekly.

The goal of the Maine Hunger Dialogue is to inspire students to take action to address hunger on their campuses and in their communities.

To help in that effort, Hunger Dialogue campus teams can apply for as much as $500 in start-up funds to implement a new project, or expand and strengthen sustainability for an already existing hunger-related project.

Projects could include activities such as a new campus food pantry or the expansion of an organic garden to provide larger quantities of fresh vegetables for local homeless shelters.

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