Basic Needs works to facilitate food, housing and overall wellness security at Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB). By ensuring these “basic needs” are met, students can focus on their academic goals. The Hub is one of Basic Needs most popular and well known services, a food pantry open to students 5 days a week, with donations from the surrounding community.
In comparison to last year, the attendance during the opening week of Basic Needs nearly doubled, providing free food,clothes, and essentials to 300 to 500 students. According to their team, Amy Zamara and Robyn DoCanto, Basic Needs has had over 3,500 visits to The Hub and served 1,821 individuals this semester. This increase in attendance can be credited to the tabling and outreach events that Basic Needs has taken part in over the past couple of months.
Connecting with students at orientation and Admitted Otter Day most likely contributed to the 516 freshman since opening who are using the resources made available by Basic Needs. A big request from students was to extend the hours of Basic Needs in order to be more accessible. Already there has been an increase in access with these extra hours.
“For example, on Tuesdays when we stay open until 8 p.m., we welcome an additional 100 students who otherwise would have missed the chance to shop. On days when we close at 6 p.m. instead of 4 p.m., we typically see 50 to 100 more students. These changes show us how important flexible hours are for meeting students’ needs,” Zamara and DoCanto said.
A new addition to Basic Needs services is the Hub Membership.
“The Hub Membership helps us better understand each student’s unique needs. With over 1,800 students served so far, we know some require additional support beyond what they find in the Hub,” Zamara and DoCanto said.
This service provides students with additional assistance such as Fresh Access Farmer’s Market vouchers, Abundance Thursday and the “Double Items sticker”. The Double Items sticker permits students to shop for twice the items of the daily limit. A membership is not required to shop at the Hub and is meant to provide extra assistance to students.
There are many different services that Basic Needs provides as well as how many students partake in them. Basic Needs offers a variety of support services: application assistance for state benefits (CalFresh, CalWORKS, Medi Cal) over 60 students have applied with the help of Basic Needs within the first two weeks of classes, as well as offering weekly workshops covering financial literacy, yoga and mindfulness, and the Parenting Otter Program.
Some upcoming events include Abundance Thursday returning on 9/4, with EFAP (Emergency Food Assistance Program) added on Mondays. Also AS Farmer’s Market launching 9/11, where students can use EBT and Market Bucks. The highly anticipated return of the Produce Truck will be on 9/25 and continuing on the first Thursday of each month for the rest of the semester.