Convening in Chicago for College Student Basic Needs

Fighting for college students’ basic needs is a national effort — and as the national nonprofit powering the movement to end college student hunger, we’re proud to work in partnership with other like-minded organizations and champions towards our shared goals. In March, Swipe Out Hunger convened in Chicago with other members of the National Coalition for College Student Essential Needs (NCCSEN) to collaborate on strategies to support college students and scale our collective impact. Representatives from over 40 organizations and 16 student leaders across the country participated and contributed their knowledge and ideas.

The event included a variety of sessions and speakers that inspired connection and ideation, including an opening from our Executive Director, Jaime Hansen, a student basic needs panel facilitated by Dr. Rashida Crutchfield, Director of the Center for Equitable Higher Education and member of Swipe Out Hunger’s Board of Directors, a tour of DePaul University’s on-campus food pantry, and sub-committee working groups. After two days of action-planning, strategizing, and knowledge-sharing, here are a few overall key takeaways:

1. This work requires collaboration on all fronts.
From policy and advocacy to research to storytelling, our work in the basic needs and higher education landscape needs to involve everyone. Students, campus staff and administration, community organizations, policymakers, and philanthropic partners all play a critical role in moving our movement forward.

2. Students are the experts and catalysts for change.
As we heard from every student at the convening, students know their needs the best. Their experiences with facing basic needs insecurity on campus and advocating for change bring energy and direction to our collective work. Ensuring that students have the opportunity to get involved and stay connected to the movement is essential.

3. We need to share and collaborate on our data and research.
Data is a key building block of the movement. The working groups identified opportunities for building up and sharing out data and research on basic needs in higher education. By working more closely together on collecting, analyzing, and sharing important data on students’ basic needs, we can lay the groundwork for advocating for change on the local, state, and federal levels.

This convening motivated us and our partners to continue building a collaborative movement and create even greater impact for college students across the country. We are grateful to everyone who participated and engaged in this working session as we utilize our collective power to advance students’ essential needs.

This event was made possible thanks to the ECMC Foundation, who sponsored the travel, accommodations, food, and staff time that the National Coalition for College Student Essential Needs (NCCSEN) required. Another special thank you to the planning committee members of NCCSEN for spending their time, energy, and expertise creating quality time together.