UC Riverside Undergraduate Research Journal

Despite increased institutional awareness toward diversity, equity, and inclusion on college campuses, LGBTQ+ students–and especially LGBTQ+ students of color–continue to experience disproportionate mental and behavioral health burdens and food insecurity compared to their cisgender and heterosexual peers. To address this issue, QTPOC (Queer and Trans People of Color) is a student organization that supports students at the intersection of oppression based on race, gender, and/or sexuality on campus. This study aims to evaluate how well our organization serves QTPoC students and how student organizations can better serve QTPoC students in general. Specifically, we study the impact our programming model–which integrates educational elements with incentives to attend events including food and crafts–has on QTPoC's well-being and knowledge of mental health resources on campus in order to both understand the factors contributing to mental health disparities and to evaluate strategies aimed to remedy those disparities. We recruited QTPoC students to complete pre- and post-event surveys to assess attendance, motivation, well-being, and awareness of campus resources regarding both food insecurity and sexual and gender health. We find increases in knowledge and well-being among QTPoC students who attended QTPOC events. We also found that offering hot food significantly contributed to positive experiences, fostered community building, and alleviated concerns regarding food insecurity. We conclude that our programming model effectively combats mental health disparities and food insecurity among QTPoC students. Student-serving organizations looking to address disparities among marginalized students should consider adopting our programming model.