Basic Needs Initiative

Throughout 2023, alongside awarding nearly $5.3 million in grants, the Basic Needs Initiative developed a new strategy and produced a theory of action to realize an ambitious goal to decrease the percentage of postsecondary students experiencing basic needs insecurity by 10% by 2033. This approach centers on three strategies: growing data capacity, scaling effective practices and advancing policy reform.

First launched in 2019, the Basic Needs Initiative quickly pivoted from exploring questions of prevalence to more direct grantee support in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing chaos for students already facing a lack, or fear of a lack, of food, housing, childcare, transportation, technology, physical and mental health services and other essential resources. Today, basic needs insecurity remains a reality for millions of students—likely even more than the available data show. 

Our new strategy builds upon learnings from 40 projects to address basic needs insecurity and nearly $19 million in grants, aiming to eventually reach a state where the Basic Needs Initiative is no longer necessary. The strategy incorporates insights from current and past grantees and investees, peer funders, field experts and students. 

For every student, going to college should be synonymous with obtaining resources that allow them to fully focus on their studies, and, as a postsecondary funder, we know investing in students’ basic needs sets entire families up for long-term success. With that in mind, the Basic Needs Initiative now prioritizes funding high-impact solutions within three strategic areas: growing data capacity, scaling effective practices and informing policy reform. 

Examples of our 2023 Basic Needs Initiative grants include:

• Maximizing Public-Academic Library Partnerships ($760,550): Ithaka S+R is exploring partnerships between community college libraries and public libraries to develop recommendations and tools for connecting students, including those with children, to basic needs resources. The goal is to equip the library community to support students’ basic needs with both information and services.

• Policy Review: The Impact of CalFresh Expansion on Food Insecurity and Performance among Higher Education Students ($300,000): The University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Health Policy Research is studying outreach efforts to encourage uptake of CalFresh (SNAP in California) for eligible students. The project’s goal is to meaningfully facilitate enrollment in CalFresh and otherwise reduce food insecurity among students.

• Student Defense Project to Streamline the SNAP Application Process for College Students in California and Beyond ($674,140): The National Student Legal Defense Network is streamlining access to SNAP by using federal student aid applications to identify eligible postsecondary students in California and other states. The goal is to increase the number of enrollments in CalFresh and to create a model for other states to streamline access to SNAP by leveraging already collected federal student aid information.