The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs Security is proud to announce a new partnership with the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) and the Kentucky Student Success Collaborative (KYSSC) to tackle one of the most urgent and overlooked barriers to student success: a lack of awareness of available basic needs supports. 

As part of Kentucky’s broader strategy to improve educational attainment and economic mobility for low-income students, we’re working alongside Kentucky leaders to ensure that more students can meet their everyday needs while pursuing their educational goals. With support from ECMC, this work is a cornerstone of Kentucky’s broader strategy to increase economic mobility and reach its ambitious goal: ensuring 60% of working-age adults hold a postsecondary degree or credential by 2030. 

At The Hope Center, we know that students can’t learn, persist, or thrive when they’re hungry, housing insecure, or burdened by financial stress. And we also know—thanks to our data—that the number one barrier to accessing available support isn’t always eligibility or availability—it’s awareness. That’s why this partnership is especially exciting. Together, we’re building a suite of tools, strategies, and communications that will empower everyone—from students themselves to advisors to benefit navigators—to help students access the resources they need and deserve. 

This collaboration is particularly promising because of what Kentucky brings to the table: a strong infrastructure, access to SNAP enrollment data, and an impressive network of kynectors—community-based benefit navigators who can bridge the gap between state resources and student lives. 

Together, we will: 

✅ Train and support basic needs coordinators, kynector benefit navigators, and adult education coaches—so they’re equipped to connect students from low-income backgrounds, adult learners, first-generation students, and those receiving public benefits to life-changing resources. 

✅ Support Kentucky’s campuses in launching stigma-reducing communications efforts, rooted in dignity, access, and student-centered language. Together, we’ll launch a comprehensive state-wide website to connect students to the full suite of basic needs resources and supports. We’ll also design a media campaign for institutions to promote resources and break down stigma. 

✅ Advise the development of new research briefs and a statewide Student Basic Needs Data Dashboard, helping Kentucky invest in what works and better understand what students are facing. 

Students across Kentucky have been clear that they need support navigating basic needs challenges before they reach a point of crisis,” said Arion Jett-Seals, Associate Director, Student Basic Needs at the Kentucky Student Success Collaborative. “This partnership helps us respond directly to what students shared during our student voice research in 2023. By reducing stigma, training up trusted sources, and building tools that make it easier to access help, we’re creating a stronger, more student-centered infrastructure. Supporting students’ basic needs is essential to increasing educational attainment, closing educational gaps, and encouraging economic mobility of Kentuckians. 

“We are honored to work alongside Kentucky leaders committed to building a more accessible and supportive higher education ecosystem,” said Dr. Sara Abelson, Senior Director of Training and Education at The Hope Center. “This partnership reflects what we know to be true: when we invest in students’ basic needs, we invest in their future—and in our collective prosperity.”  

Stay tuned as we share more about this exciting collaboration. To learn more about our research, tools, or how to bring a partnership like this to your state, contact us at [click-for-email]. 

For more examples of The Hope Center’s collaborative work with state-wide systems, visit: 

• Our work with the state of Michigan 
• Our work with the state of New Jersey 
• Our work with the state of Minnesota