Harris Students Join IOP Trek to Learn about Food Insecurity and SNAP

Maya Cousins, MPP Class of 2027, and Kerem Tasdan, MPP Class of 2026, write about the Institute of Politics’s trek to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

On a snowy Friday at the end of January, we joined the Institute of Politics’s “Oh SNAP: Food Insecurity in Chicago” Trek to the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) for a deeper understanding of the Chicago food security landscape and applications in policy. With about fifteen other UChicago students, we went to the Archer Heights neighborhood, where the 306,000 sq. ft. GCFD facility is located. It's an all-in-one space, housing an industrial kitchen for Chicago’s Community Kitchens (which prepares and delivers up to 10,000 meals daily and provides culinary job training and placement for unemployed and underemployed adults), a warehouse for receiving and shipping pallets of food to food banks across Chicago, and comfortable spaces for community members to receive support finding food assistance programs and other benefits in Chicago and Cook County.

The sheer capacity and scale of the whole operation was overwhelming—GCFD was able to serve more than 250,000 community members during the government-shutdown induced blockage of SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] in October 2025. GCFD team members emphasized to us that despite the critical role SNAP plays as a tool for ending hunger, it is also one of several tools. I appreciated that GCFD approaches tackling food security through a multidisciplinary lens, in addition to volunteering or donations. They provided economic data for analyzing the main issue, but always framed their advocacy goals within broader housing, healthcare, and social welfare policy.

—Kerem Tasdan, MPP Class of 2027

I was amazed by the facility, the team, and the organization of GCFD as a nonprofit. GCFD has existed for 40+ years and has been very intentional in how they have expanded to meet the needs of the community. As an individual interested in education policy and nonprofits, I was intrigued by both the operations and services provided as well as the policy and advocacy. From an education policy lens, education doesn’t exist in a silo; education policy is food policy. So I loved learning that GCFD runs a Summer Food Service Program to close the gap during the summer for students on free and reduced lunch who may not have consistent access to meals when school isn’t in session. Plus, as a first-year MPP student, I was able to “close the loop” on concepts covered in my core classes and see policies I learned in action.

—Maya Cousins, MPP Class of 2027

Thank you to Barbara at the Institute of Politics Civic Engagement Team for organizing such an insightful Trek and thanks to the team at the Greater Chicago Food Depository for a tour and hosting an in-depth discussion around food insecurity and federal and state policies. If you’re interested in food policy, here are ways you can get involved with GCFD.