The ABQ Accent · City of Albuquerque - Office of Civic Engagement

The ABQ Accent | Ep 31 - Benjamin Tobias

·34 min·2 clips

The New Mexico Basic Needs Project found about 58% food insecurity among respondents.

1. The ABQ Accent episode centers on Benjamin Tobias and his work on student basic needs at Central New Mexico Community College. 2. Host Mariah Harrison interviews Benjamin Tobias, who manages CNM’s student basic needs work, runs three food pantries, and is opening a fourth at Montoya campus. 3. The episode asks how CNM helps students meet food and other basic needs so they can stay in school and keep going. 4. Tobias says he was born in Houston, lived in Spain for two years, and found his interest in art history while teaching English in Barcelona. 5. He says he is the first person in his family to graduate from college and to travel abroad. 6. He says it took him about 13 years to finish his undergraduate degree after starting at CNM and later attending UNM. 7. Tobias connects his work to Montessori ideas, including autonomy, agency, and a community response to need. 8. He describes a classroom approach where a person who takes something is asked what they need, then offered bread or a pencil so they do not have to take it again. 9. He links that philosophy to a basic needs framework that says food, shelter, safety, and security come before school success. 10. He says CNM students often arrive under pressure, including food insecurity, work schedules, and long waits in pantry lines. 11. He describes students volunteering at the pantry after using it themselves, which he sees as a sign of gratitude and reciprocity. 12. He says the pantry team tries to reduce stigma by making the space friendly, welcoming, and easy to return to. 13. Tobias says he walks campus with a cart of excess food so students can take strawberries, tomatoes, or even garlic without formal appointments. 14. He says Wednesday pantry lines can reach about 120 to 100 students at the main campus, so volunteers hand out snacks and water while people wait. 15. He explains that CNM combines donations from Roadrunner Food Bank, local produce from Mogro, institutional funds, and a feeding families fund. 16. He says the pantry also uses grant money and a basic needs wish list for items such as toilet paper and menstrual products. 17. Tobias describes the New Mexico Basic Needs Consortium as a UNM-led survey effort across 27 institutions. 18. He says the survey drew about 13,500 responses and reported about 58% food insecurity, 62% housing insecurity, and about 14% unhoused in the last 12 months. 19. The conversation stays warm and practical, with Mariah Harrison asking detailed follow-ups and Tobias answering in a calm, community-centered style. 20. Students, staff, and Albuquerque listeners interested in food access and higher education. 21. Listeners looking for a fast celebrity interview or light entertainment. 22. The episode also closes with Tobias mentioning an upcoming first art show at Harwood’s Surface Emerging Artists program on June 21.

As heard by us

A calm, practical look at basic-needs work and the people keeping it moving.

The episode follows Benjamin Tobias, CNM's manager of student basic needs, as he and Mariah Harrison talk through the plain, necessary work of getting food and support to students.

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Why you'd press play

Hear how a campus food pantry is organized to support students and the community.

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