Sacramento State has opened the Basic Needs Resource Center to address student housing and food insecurity. The center, located in The Well, offers free groceries such as meat, fresh produce, toiletries, and other essential items. University officials and community leaders held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on September 23 to mark the opening.
Jeanne Harris Van Dahlen, senior associate vice president for Student Health, Counseling, and Wellness Services (SHCWS), said during the event: “This center is about breaking down the non-academic barriers that so often prevent students from persisting and ultimately graduating.”
“At Sacramento State, we believe that every student deserves the opportunity to focus on their education without having to worry whether or not basic needs are being met. (The center) reflects our commitment to ensuring that the students are not only here, but that they thrive, graduate, and persist and have the opportunity to give back to society once they’re done,” Van Dahlen added.
Vice President for Student Affairs Aniesha Mitchell noted that approximately 42% of Sacramento State’s 31,000 students qualify for CalFresh—a federal program providing low-income households with assistance purchasing nutritious food. She highlighted ongoing challenges: “These are barriers no college student should have to face. And yet, across the country, the support systems students rely on are being reduced or eliminated entirely.”
“Here at Sac State, we are choosing a different path. We are meeting this moment with compassion and purpose. We are saying clearly that student well-being is not optional,” Mitchell said.
Since its soft opening earlier in September, more than 700 students have used the center’s services. According to Van Dahlen, it can serve up to 200 students daily.
Brianna Gonzalez, a Health Science student who uses resources at The Well—including urgent care and mental health support—said: “Everything I need is here at The Well. It’s nice to have a little bit of that extra support because a lot of times I don’t have money left to buy groceries after I pay for my gas or my rent or utilities.” She added: “This allows me to get the food that I need especially at the end of the month when I’m very low on money.”
Former Associated Students Inc. (ASI) President Nataly Andrade-Dominguez thanked President Luke Wood for his role in launching the new center: “Food insecurity, housing insecurity, and financial hardship are not abstract problems,” she said. “They are lived realities that impact focus, performance, and well-being. No student should ever have to choose between paying rent and buying groceries or between their health and their education.”
Mitchell also expressed gratitude toward U.S. Congresswoman Doris Matsui for her ongoing support of Sacramento State’s initiatives.
Matsui stated: “The opening of Sacramento State’s Basic Needs Center reflects not only the University’s commitment to its students but also the broader principle that access to higher education must go hand-in-hand with access to essential resources… No student should ever have to choose between completing a degree and meeting basic survival needs.
“Centers like this strengthen our community, and they demonstrate why investing in student success at the federal level is so critical to building a stronger healthier and more resilient future for Sacramento.”
Van Dahlen reiterated: “At Sacramento State we believe that every student deserves the opportunity to focus on their education without having to worry whether or not basic needs are being met.”
Before opening day Golden 1 Credit Union and Safe Credit Union donated nonperishable foods including cereal canned soup coffee tea granola bars nut butters sun butters among others.
The Basic Needs Resource Center provides easy-to-prepare meal kits instant foods frozen meats fresh produce dairy products such as yogurt milk as well as kits containing blankets toiletries towels t-shirts socks for housing insecure students. For those who are parents—about 30% of Sac State’s population—the center supplies diapers baby wipes toys children’s backpacks along with new or gently used clothes shoes.
Students may schedule weekly appointments where personal shoppers assist them in selecting groceries; recipes cooking demonstrations will be available nearby; local banks will offer financial literacy classes through partnerships with the center.
Additionally Associated Students Inc.’s Food Pantry continues supplying free groceries including produce grown locally in partnership with Capitol Public Radio garden serving around 500 students per week last year.
The Basic Needs Resource Center operates Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.–5 p.m., by appointment only in Room 1031 at The Well.
