About The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs
Three in five college students do not have enough to eat or a stable place to live, and millions of students experience basic needs insecurity, including a lack of access to adequate housing, food, health care and mental health services, child care, internet connectivity, transportation, and mental health services. Basic needs insecurity is a social determinant of health that hampers postsecondary student success, inhibits social mobility, and deepens inequities. We are changing the unjust status quo.
The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University is a leading national action research center removing barriers to student success and well-being through:
Research: investigating students’ lived experiences with basic needs insecurity and evaluating interventions
Policy: informing and advocating for systemic policy change to make college more affordable
Practice: collaborative coaching with colleges, universities, and states on meeting students’ basic needs through systems transformation
We are researchers, scholars, advocates, conveners, and storytellers who envision a world where basic needs insecurity is no longer a barrier to pursuing and completing college. We take a systems-change approach to creating a higher education landscape where educational opportunity is universal and equitable.