Many college students face barriers to food security, often including financial restrictions, transportation limitations, and time constraints. Regardless of the availability of food assistance resources, they tend to be underutilized by college students due to limited operation hours and not being easy to search for online.

TU Foodshare in partnership with the Center for GIS has created an interactive food map connecting both the Towson University and TUNE community to food assistance options. By mapping out and scoring alternative food resources based on the 5 A’s of food security (availability, accessibility, affordability, adequacy, and agency), the application hopes to help mitigate food insecurity issues that TU students may face.

Open the application in a new window to view the map in its entirety.

How to use the Towson University Food Security Map

Upon opening the application, you will see a map of local food assistance resources color coded by type in proximity to TU’s campuses. Use the filters in the left hand panel to view resources based on the assistance offered at each location and factors of accessibility. Click a point to learn more information about the resource, which will display in the right hand panel.

To learn more about each resource’s score of 1-5 based on the 5 A’s of food security, click the Food Security Score link in the right hand panel.

TU Center for GIS and TU Foodshare partner to help mitigate food insecurity issues students may face