Who We Are
YHHAP: In service of New Haven.
The Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project (YHHAP) is a student organization using education and action to alleviate housing and food insecurity in New Haven, Connecticut. Not-for-profit, we use our direct service, community involvement, and advocacy efforts to address root causes and to support immediate and long-term solutions for local food and housing deprivation.
Founded almost fifty years past, YHHAP is the center for hunger and homelessness work at Yale. At heart, YHHAP is a vibrant community of student-volunteers, committed to helping our New Haven neighbors and addressing larger societal issues. Located out of Dwight Hall, YHHAP works independently and in partnership with other successful New Haven non-profits.
What We Do
The wheel spokes of our service are eleven projects, circling from a soup kitchen with daily meals to a case management agency providing housing and employment assistance. In addition to these core projects, YHHAP works to address entrenched homelessness, moving from fundraising campaigns to protection of vital shelters in New Haven. Through advocacy, policy, and education, YHHAP also promotes awareness and offers actionable steps for institutional change.
GET INVOLVED!
The Challenge
Around 130,000 people call New Haven their home. Several thousand of them make up part of the half million people in Connecticut who rely on SNAP (formerly called food stamps) to make ends meet. Over twenty percent of city residents are food insecure, meaning they do not have consistent access of affordable and nutritious food.
Hand in hand with this issue is homelessness. Nearly 4,000 people in Connecticut were identified by the 2016 Point in Time Count as either currently homeless or at risk of homelessness. The homeless population includes single men and women, and families with children. Those experiencing homelessness have varied and complicated stories, but they include victims of domestic violence, the mentally or physically ill, and veterans. Minorities are disproportionately represented on the streets and in the waiting lines for shelters. (Connecticut Point in Time Count).
22%
of new haven residents are food insecure.
Food insecurity is defined a lack of consistent access to affordable, nutritious food. Food insecurity affects 13.9% of Connecticut residents, but the New Haven rate is 22%-- twice the national average.
500k
Connecticut residents rely on snap assistance.
Of Connecticut's 3.5 million residents, over half a million people rely on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits every month to meet their food needs.
1 in 4
people in new haven live at or below the poverty line.
New Haven’s low income families account for a quarter of the city’s entire population. Overall, the rate is virtually unchanged from 2010 and continues to be much higher than the state’s average.