September 2024
The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs has announced that it is the recipient of grants from The Joyce Foundation and ECMC Foundation to research and improve federal and state policy responses to student basic needs insecurity. At a time when three in five students don’t have enough to eat or a safe place to live, systemic policy change is crucial to supporting students’ postsecondary success and wellbeing.
Over the next two years, with support from the Joyce Foundation, The Hope Center will continue to educate both federal and state policymakers on basic needs reform, with a focus on reforming outdated eligibility rules for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as “food stamps.” SNAP provides significant financial assistance to alleviate food insecurity, but many people who qualify for the program do not enroll.
The “SNAP gap” is pernicious specifically among college students: 67% of potentially eligible college students do not receive the benefit. Closing the “college SNAP gap” by enrolling students who are potentially eligible for SNAP into the program—even amidst tight eligibility rules—is key to relieving widespread food insecurity among college students and enabling them to complete higher education. Our grant will support educational outreach to policymakers and partners on the SNAP student rules and barriers.
The grant will also support Hope’s co-leadership of a national policy coalition of over 200 national, state, and local organizations, colleges and universities, researchers, and practitioners focused on student basic needs. It’s only in community that we’ll be effective in repairing one of the most unjust disparities of our time.
“Students face enormous, complex, and totally unjust barriers to meeting their basic needs, starting with the SNAP program,” said Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy Bryce McKibben. “We’re thrilled to continue partnering with the Joyce Foundation and our national coalition allies to break down these obstacles in our public benefit programs and advance systemic change for students.”
The Hope Center also received funding from the Joyce Foundation to share lessons learned and guidance for state policymakers from our growing portfolio of projects helping Great Lakes states remove basic needs insecurity as a barrier to educational attainment. For example, we will report on policy opportunities and key strategies for convening state taskforces identified through our contributions to Michigan’s Task Force for Student Basic Needs and Minnesota’s Student Basic Needs Working Group.