THREAD: The Maize and Blue Cupboard, which provides produce and staples for the 30% of @UMich students who were experiencing regular food-insecurity before the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis, was seen with lines wrapping around the block yesterday.

While UM has not published COVID-19 socioeconomic impacts, many students are having trouble finding part-time jobs, exacerbating the livability conditions that make Ann Arbor housing-inaccessible and a food desert.

The best data we have come from the US Census Pulse Surveys, which attempt to estimate the socioeconomic impacts of governmental response to COVID-19. I looked at the household survey for the Detroit Metro Statistical Area, which doesn't include A2 but is as close as possible.

Aug. 19th-31st: 12% of households experience regular food insecurity, 38.6% expect to lose housing in two months, 34% have having difficulty paying household expenses, 80.6% had to change post-secondary education plans, and 30% expect to lose further income in the next 4 weeks.

UM has provided students with unsafe living, eating, working, and learning conditions amid a pandemic that means more of them than ever before do not have access to alternative support mechanisms, and has failed to acknowledge these impacts.

While donations to the food pantry (and activist work by GEO and the striking RAs) are helping address some immediate needs, it is the lack of care for the humanity of all on and around campus that the strike opposes and seeks to remedy through a fair and just pandemic response.

I think this context is important for understanding that the impacts of such a response aren't hypothetical: they will begin relieving suffering immediately, and will provide the accountability and mechanisms for the community to begin addressing its needs.

I researched this as part of the daily strike updates I write, but wanted to share some of this context with a broader audience today. Thanks to @_snness for bringing the Cupboard lines to my attention.