Washington Post and Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Spotlight Hope Center’s ‘Parenting While in College’ Brief, Interview Senior Learning Specialist Ali Caccavella

The Washington Post and Diverse: Issues in Higher Education spotlighted the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice’s recent “Parenting While in College: Racial Disparities in Basic Needs Insecurity During the Pandemic” brief about the disproportionately high rate of food insecurity, financial instability and homelessness among Black fathers. The article by Diverse noted a key research finding that nearly all single Black and Latinx parenting students experience basic needs insecurity. Ali Caccavella, Senior Learning Specialist at Hope and one of the brief’s authors, was interviewed by both outlets. Caccavella and her team surveyed more than 32,000 students and found that basic needs insecurity is more pronounced in Black fathers than in other parenting student populations, which builds on existing research about the rising drop-out rate among Black parenting men. In the Diverse article, she highlighted the importance of bringing directly impacted student populations to the table when thinking of solutions to address food and housing insecurity.