ESS 608: Basic Needs Center

Laura Vogt:
Hello, and thank you for joining us on this week’s podcast of The Not So Secret Guide to Being a Berkeley Engineer. I’m your host, Laura Vogt, the associate director of marketing communications in the college of engineering, and I use the “She” Series pronouns. So today we’re going to learn more about one of our campus resources, the Basic Needs Center. And so thank you to Brian Glickman and Joyce Huchins from the Basic Needs Center for joining me today. So Brian, let’s start with you, and why don’t you tell me more about yourself and your role here at UC Berkeley?

Brian Glickman:
Absolutely. And first off, I just want to say thank you again for having us here. We’re so excited to do our first inaugural podcast. But again, my name is Brian Glickman. I use he/him pronouns and for the BNC, my role is the program and operations coordinator. So, very specifically, within our space, I’m the one who do does a lot of our programmatic and outreach efforts. Additionally, I do our internal operations, so kind of overseeing our internal community building, student staff development, as well as the fun admin side of things. With that I also feel like it’s vitally important for me to highlight that I’m an avid cat person and have two cats at home. It’s a very big identity marker for me in our office, so I felt the need to share it here. And with that, I will pass it on over to Joyce.

Joyce Huchins:
Thanks Brian. Yes, that is a huge identity marker at the Basic Needs Center. Hi, thank you so much for having us. My name is Joyce. I use they/them pronouns. I’m the health equity coordinator here at the Basic Needs Center. I have been in my full-time role for about a year and before that I was an undergrad student at Cal myself. So I am bringing that knowledge into this role to do quite a couple different programmatic areas. So there’s the direct service to students, helping basic needs insecure students in the variety of areas we’ll talk about, as well as doing some fun programming, working with Brian to make sure that students are engaged, having a good time when they’re interacting with us and also feeling welcome and knowledgeable about all of our services.

Laura Vogt:
Well, thank you both so much for being here. I am really excited actually to have the Basic Needs Center. I had heard about it, but haven’t gotten to know enough about it and how to make sure that our students know about the Basic Needs Center so that they could use it more. So let’s start off with kind of just a basic overview of what is the Basic Needs Center?

Brian Glickman:
Yeah, I’m happy to start it off, but Joyce, please feel free to jump in whenever, because I know it’s pretty expansive and I often feel like I miss something every time I do this. But really just briefly, the Basic Needs Center, our focus is obviously on basic needs and so at our core that is food, housing and financial stability. That being said, the definition of basic needs has expanded to also include health and wellness, tech equity and transportation. So within the Basic Needs Center, this covers a lot. I think a lot of times people either think of maybe just the Food Pantry or CalFresh, which is long-term food assistance program. That being said, it’s a lot more holistic and expansive than that.

Brian Glickman:
So we do have those two things of CalFresh and the Food Pantry, but we also do a lot with regard to housing, we have an extensive emergency housing system. We do a lot of like case management and direct care with students to make sure that their basic needs are met, that they’re feeling supported and able to thrive and belong on campus. Additionally, we do a lot focused specifically on grad students because we want to emphasize that these issues are not just specifically targeted to undergrads, but they are to all students on our campus. And I really want to make sure I give room for Joyce to talk about a lot of the health and wellness initiatives that they’ve been doing to really emphasize what’s been going on there. And so I’ll let them also talk about the holistic fund because that is kind of one of our financial wellness, but Joyce has been a lot more directly involved with that.

Joyce Huchins:
Absolutely. Thank you, Brian. So the Basic Needs Center is a student support service. At our core, we are trying to ensure that every single student is able to attend school and thrive and that food, housing and finances are not a barrier to do so. Essentially our approach is to honor this holistic model while acknowledging that we as a small team cannot address every single need that a student has, but instead, what we can do, is we can be really strong connectors. We can make sure that we have services going full force throughout the entire year and that we are connecting students to the right places because food and housing are just the foundation. There is so much more that goes into a student’s life. And like Brian was saying, that’s where different services like the holistic fund come into view. And I’m not sure if you want me to dive into that right now, or if you want us to hold off a bit before talking about all the resources.

Laura Vogt:
Let’s start off with talking about the basic thing that I think people might be worried about getting services is how do they pay for it? So are you asking them to pay a fee to come in when they see you?

Brian Glickman:
No, all of it is completely free. We want to make sure that these are accessible services to everyone because again, one of the huge barriers to higher education being at Berkeley is accessibility and having access to a lot of different services to make sure that you can survive and thrive on campus. So for us, our whole emphasis is justice and belonging. And so with that, all of our services are free.

Laura Vogt:
Should students… Do they need to make an appointment to come and start finding out if there’s services that are going to be able to help them?

Joyce Huchins:
Yeah, that’s a great question. So right now we are really directing students towards our assistance form. Some services will require an appointment. So for example, if you are trying to sign up for application assistance with CalFresh, which offers monthly food benefits to students, then you will need an appointment time with one of our CalFresh Ambassadors. However, if you’re asking for general questions or just want more information, you can submit your questions through this assistance form and we will send you all the information you need to try to support this hybrid model that we’re doing. So we want to make sure that for students who are trying to access in-person services, there is an entry point. And if your needs align more with a virtual world, then we can also address it through emails, phone calls, Zoom, whatever works best for the student.

Laura Vogt:
That’s awesome. I’m glad that you have different ways for them to make those connections that they need. And Brian, you mentioned it earlier that the programs are open to undergrad and grad, but I want to make sure that people really hear that, that it’s open to all students.

Brian Glickman:
Yes. And I will happily say it again. Our services are open for all students, undergrad, grad, undocumented, international. We are, as Joyce said, a support service for students. And so we want people to know that our doors are welcome to them.

Laura Vogt:
That just makes me so happy to hear that, it’s just you’re there for everyone. And so are there classes that also help to teach students their life skills?

Brian Glickman:
Yeah. So I think this is an area we’re really excited about expanding and growing on, I think, to be entirely transparent. So the Basic Needs Center hasn’t been around that long, our doors officially opened, and Joyce, now please tell me if I got this wrong, but I think our doors officially opened in 2019, so very soon after, the pandemic hit. So we’ve still been kind of trying to figure out what is our place, what is our structure and how do we serve in a more in person setting.

Brian Glickman:
That being said, again, trying to support students’ basic needs, a part of that is our preventative education measures. So we are really trying to build out our student life skills and having ways to help educate students about their basic needs. So we have had partnerships with UHS dieticians who have been really helpful in creating more of these like life skills teaching food demos, as well as NST 20, which is a class directed at learning how to cook, how to prepare food in areas in that way. So it’s really in honor of our partnerships with UHS dieticians.

Brian Glickman:
I do also want to say in years past we’ve had Food for Thought classes, which have been more based around life skills. We’re trying to migrate that model into more of a uniform basic needs seminar. That being said, just as we’re still building capacity in our space, we don’t have complete clarity on if that’s happening yet or where we are with it, but know it is something we are working towards.

Laura Vogt:
And we mentioned the CalFresh program earlier and that’s available to university students because I know… Is it part of the SNAP program?

Joyce Huchins:
Yeah, you’re entirely correct. So CalFresh, which is also known as SNAP/EBT is California’s version of the federal food assistance program. What the Basic Needs Center on campus does is bring that government resource into the hands of students. So we make this government resource available to college students specifically, because a lot of students don’t know that they qualify for these monthly food benefits and it can be extremely helpful in order to support nutritious and healthy eating. EBT cards work in the same way that any debit card does when you go to a major grocery store. You have your EBT, you slide it, you enter your pin number and that’s how you buy your groceries. And the way that students can get support is by going through our application assistance process or on our website, we have links if students want to apply on their own time and maybe just have a couple of quick questions.

Laura Vogt:
And what is the basic requirements to be eligible?

Joyce Huchins:
Yeah, absolutely. So CalFresh, because it is a government program requires that folks applying be US citizens or legal permanent residents. That is the first requirement for eligibility. However, I will say that we also offer support to students who don’t meet those because we have such a diverse campus community. So any student who enters through our door will be connected to food support, but for CalFresh specifically you do have to be eligible to receive government benefits. From there, there are income requirements, which means that students need to be below a certain income amount depending on their household. And a household is who you buy and prepare foods with. So even if you have two or three roommates, if you’re not buying and preparing foods together, you yourself are still a one person household. And all of this is also available on our website because it can get very complicated. Every single student situation is different and our CalFresh Ambassadors are well trained to answer the specific questions of each individual student.

Laura Vogt:
And we can have links on the podcast page, as well as talking about the basic overall, it’s basicneeds.berkeley.edu? And my other question was about the housing insecurity that we talked about, that there’s emergency housing programs available. I know oftentimes the engineering student services advisors have spoken about how housing insecurity makes it really difficult to do well at school because how do you balance not knowing where you’re going to sleep at night and still figure out how you’re going to be able to do your homework and attend classes? So what have you been able to do for the housing insecurities?

Joyce Huchins:
Absolutely. So housing is huge. First of all, I just want to recognize that we live in The Bay Area, this is an expensive place to live. It’s expensive, even for folks who are working full-time jobs and living here. So I just want to recognize that there is this whole structure and that we want to step away from any blame language that puts it on the individual. But instead, really recognizing that there are real factors impacting the lives of every single student and every single person’s ability to have safe and stable housing. So with that understanding, I want to make it clear that the Basic Needs Center is really here for unplanned emergency interventions. So we have a few resources that can help students in preventative ways, such as a housing search document that lists every single place a student could look in order to find housing. All of the places we know of are compiled into this helpful research document and it allows students to click through and find places that fit their needs.

Joyce Huchins:
However, our core direct services, in terms of emergency housing are for safety interventions, when a student is no longer able to stay at their current residence because of a safety issue, or if they’re currently experiencing being unhoused. And that can look like a variety of different scenarios. That includes students who are couch surfing, living in a vehicle, staying in an overcrowded room or home or any place where they are experiencing concerns for their safety. So in these situations, we will work with students to provide temporary emergency relief so that they have a place to sleep. And then from there, work with them to create a long-term plan. Unfortunately, we cannot provide long-term housing. We can’t provide long-term subsidized housing. I wish that we could, and I really think that the university needs to do so. And with the limited capacity that we have, what we do is work in these unplanned situations to help students come up with their own long-term plans.

Joyce Huchins:
That is the very physical housing piece. We also offer emergency financial support and for housing, that looks like rent relief. And this is especially for students who are struggling to pay their rent because of a variety of different unplanned emergency circumstances. And as you can imagine, lives are very complicated and so much goes into this. But students who have accessed all of the resources available to them, used every financial means that they currently have and are still coming up short for rent, falling behind on rent or struggling to afford their housing security deposit, can apply to receive that source of support from our office.

Joyce Huchins:
That being said, we try to phrase this as more case management. So when a student’s need is financial, that is a single option receiving funding from the Basic Needs Center is one type of resource that we offer. But the core of it is entering our services so that we can work with a student to make sure that these issues don’t continue to arise and that all of their needs are met.

Laura Vogt:
That is a really good explanation. I appreciate how you’re able to lay it out and have it all make sense. Thank you.

Brian Glickman:
Yeah. And Laura, do you mind if I add one just quick thing to that?

Laura Vogt:
Of course.

Brian Glickman:
So again, just wanting to echo Joyce, that was beautifully said and wonderful and I think one thing that you started this off with Laura that I just want to like reaffirm is like how you were saying engineering advisors really are noticing that having housing insecurity is leading to hardships for students in their academic settings and being able to fully thrive at Berkeley. And I just really want to make clear that point and why it is so important to be focusing on basic needs, not just housing, but also looking at food and financial security, because it is so clearly linked to a student’s ability to engage holistically into the setting, into their academics, their passions, their relationships. So needing to make sure to really elevate basic needs security, not just on the housing level, but across all levels, to make sure that we can actually have a student body that is being able to dive into and get the experience at Berkeley that they are intending to have.

Laura Vogt:
Yeah, definitely. One of the things that I remember from the podcast we did a couple weeks ago was financial aid and talking about if your circumstances have changed, you can make an appointment with them to go in and talk. So that, I know is another option that might not be a perfect option. It’s kind of hard to say that there’s going to be perfect options across the board. But yeah, definitely, thank you. So where are you located? So if students need to find either the pantry or your welcome center, where are those at?

Brian Glickman:
Absolutely. And this is one that I’m so excited to talk about just because we have been in the process of expanding and getting more location and kind of building out in that way. So we are working on and developing three locations, which I know sounds a lot, but I promise they’re all coordinated and close. So we’re all located within the MLK student union and on the first floor in the 107 space, that is our Basic Needs Welcome Center, where we’re going to have folks as more of our public facing engagement, where to ask general questions, where to connect and really kind of be the front facing welcome space for the Basic Needs Center.

Brian Glickman:
Going down to the B North area, so the bottom level of MLK, that’s where our food pantry will actually be located. It’s being renovated and hopefully by the end of August, we will have that fully up and running. Admittedly things have been delayed, so it could be a little later than that, but that will be where our food pantry is. It’s going to be this beautiful, market style where people get to choose all that they want, have great little baskets and checkout. And then right next to that also on the bottom level is our Basic Needs appointment space where that’s going to be more for our student staff meetings and more private area that’s not as public facing as maybe the welcome center area.

Laura Vogt:
And Joyce, you talked about this earlier, the best way for students to contact the Basic Needs Center, but do you want to reiterate what you had talked about?

Joyce Huchins:
Absolutely. Because there are so many different programs to navigate, the best place to start is our assistance form. It is linked on our website. It’ll be linked on all of our materials. The assistance form is the best entry point for students. When students explain all of the complex needs that they have in that assistance form, we can then, on the back end, triage to make sure that the right person is reaching out with the most relevant information for that student’s situation.

Laura Vogt:
I like that they don’t have to try to figure out who to go to. You can go one spot and then you’ll help them get to the right place from there. And is there a process that students should start before contacting any other programs?

Brian Glickman:
Honestly, it’s just really echoing what Joyce said. For us, I think the best thing is just doing the assistance form and we can help work on maybe what the next best steps would be based on what support you might need or what you’re looking for. So really the first step would be filling out the assistance form.

Laura Vogt:
And are there any other programs on campus that you work with that you want to make sure students know about or how they could look at more information about who your partners are?

Joyce Huchins:
Absolutely. We work with so many different places on campus. We have partners across all of the university. It is hard to pinpoint just a couple, but what I would emphasize is that Berkeley has a variety of student services that are available and ready to support you, so please stop by. Because we partner with so many people, when you are experiencing a housing, food or financial need, if a student already has an advisor that they know and trust, this advisor can submit the basic needs assistance form on the student’s behalf and we can coordinate with them to make sure that it’s a holistic wraparound.

Joyce Huchins:
So in terms of partners to emphasize, I would love to reassure students that wherever they are the most comfortable beginning, that is always a great place to start. I always encourage students to consider their full financial aid package as well. So, I think that this is the hill I’m going to die on, but I really want students to know and understand that there are financial resources out there and we are just one piece of that puzzle. So especially for students who are in financial aid, the financial aid office has a great amount of support available in terms of understanding how financial aid can best support you. And there are a lot of untapped resources within financial aid packages themselves that we really love to talk about with students when they’re accessing food and housing resources.

Laura Vogt:
If students are scared to come to the Basic Needs Center or feel ashamed that they need the support from the Basic Needs Center, is there something that you tell them to make them feel more comfortable about reaching out for that support?

Joyce Huchins:
Yeah, absolutely. So this goes back to what I was saying earlier is all of this work is grounded in an understanding of structures. So there are so many individual student cases that get me out of bed every morning and get me going on my job. And what the root of the problem is, is the larger economic system that we live in. So when we’re talking about basic needs, it’s not a single person issue, it’s the fact that so many students are struggling to obtain an education because of foundational elements that aren’t there.

Joyce Huchins:
The financial aid grants that students receive do not go as far as they used to, especially when it comes to costs of living. So if any student is feeling a sense of shame, a sense of guilt over the very real life circumstances that they’re facing, I would say that is what the people in power want you to feel. Because that is how systems stay the same, is by making people feel like that is on them on an individual level. But really it’s something that so many people go through, so many college students go through and once college students started asking for help, more followed. So no one is alone in their housing, food or financial situations. No one is alone, that’s why these resources exist. And by accessing them, engaging with us, students are demonstrating how powerful it is to have access to higher education.

Laura Vogt:
And have either of you had that aha moment that let you know that the work you’re doing is exactly where you’re supposed to be, and you’re accomplishing what you want to accomplish?

Brian Glickman:
I immediately started laughing and Joyce I’d love for you to tack onto this because I mean, I think this is our office environment on a daily basis. For us, it is so exciting and exhilarating and rewarding to be in the spaces because we get to be doing the work that as Joyce says, needs to be happening on a systematic level and getting to work directly with students and make sure that they can have the ability to eat, to sleep, to financially provide for themselves.

Brian Glickman:
So very much so, this is the work that we are all wanting to be doing are all excited about and I think that’s why if you ever come to our office, it’s like a nonstop giggle fest and I think it’s just because we are so genuinely excited to be in this space and so genuinely excited to be working with each other, working with the student staff leaders that we have and working with the student staff and faculty that we engage with on a daily basis to really transform and create a different culture on this campus that better supports the students, staff, and faculty that are here.

Joyce Huchins:
Yeah, absolutely. We truly are a nonstop giggle fest. That is so funny and totally correct, Brian. Yeah, I would say that I have an aha moment about three times a day. There are so many different things that we do and so many different ways in which this work has personally impacted my life, especially someone who used basic needs services as a student. I would say that the fact that I was able to have stable housing throughout my entire time as a student was because of the Basic Needs Center and because of the support that I received here. So just being a college graduate with a full-time job, every day I’m so thankful for that. And I think, yeah, this is because of the work that the folks who came before me did.

Laura Vogt:
That’s absolutely awesome. I love being able to hear that you’re both so excited about the work that you do and that you enjoy it and that you see what your efforts have done for students. That’s very cool. Is there anything else that we haven’t talked about today that either of you would like to add?

Brian Glickman:
Yes. There’s one thing that I’m very excited to plug. So we are going to be having our Basic Needs Center Block Party on Tuesday, August 30th from 12:00 to 4:00 in Lower Sproul Plaza. And I can just repeat that one more time to make sure that we all heard it, but August 30th, Tuesday from 12:00 to 4:00, Lower Sproul Plaza. It will be just a really fun event where there’s going to be music, there’s going to be free food, a lot of prizes, a photo booth, different events and programs. Really wanting this just to be an open community space for us to learn more about the Basic Needs Center, our services, some of the things we talked about, but really kind of step into this community and really learn a lot more about what’s going on within our world. So we encourage all of you to join in. It should be, fingers crossed, a very fun affair and can’t wait to see you there.

Laura Vogt:
Joyce, is there anything that you wanted to add or did we hit all your points?

Joyce Huchins:
Yeah, I think I hit many of my points. Thank you so much. And Brian, what an incredible plug.

Laura Vogt:
It does sound really fun.

Brian Glickman:
Well, Laura, I hope you’re joining in. We’ll see you there.

Laura Vogt:
I’m going to have to come down.

Joyce Huchins:
Absolutely.

Laura Vogt:
Well, thank you both so much for being here today. I’ve learned so much about what you do and the resources that you have offered for our students. I am really excited to get to share this with everyone.

Brian Glickman:
Well, thank you so much. It was truly our pleasure.

Joyce Huchins:
Yeah. And please reach out if you, anyone you know, has questions about our services. If you’re working with a student or if you just have a general what-if scenario, please let us know.

Laura Vogt:
Well, thank you so much and thank you for everyone for tuning in to The Not So Secret Guide to Being a Berkeley Engineer. And I look forward to podcasting with you next week. Bye.