Homelessness on community college campuses is a bigger problem in our country than we may have known.

On Wednesday, we heard from a few students at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston. They are just a few of the students at community colleges in the U.S. who are homeless or who struggle with food insecurity.

A new study we discussed on The Show, researchers at the Wisconsin HOPE Lab surveyed 33,000 students at 70 colleges and found two-thirds of students were going hungry and half with housing insecurity.

Several community colleges here in the Valley participated in that study, including Mesa Community College. And, I spoke with one professor at the MCC who know this issue well.

Linda Speranza has taught ceramics at MCC for almost 35 years, and she launched a program there called Empty Bowls, which raises money to fight homelessness and hunger.

Mesa Community College also has a task force to address homelessness and they run a food pantry for students who need it. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: KJZZ is licensed to Rio Salado College, one of the Maricopa County Community College District schools.