Ep. 127: Voices of Student Success: Breaking Down Barriers to Basic Needs Resources

Ashley Mowreader: Hello, and welcome back to Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed’s podcast series on student retention, engagement, and graduation strategies. I’m your host, Ashley Mowreader, student success reporter for Inside Higher Ed. Thanks for joining us today. This series is a companion to our Student Success newsletter, a weekday publication that provides ideas and inspiration for higher education practitioners who work in or care about student success. This season is all about preparing you for the start of the academic year, packing your school bag, if you will, with different strategies and initiatives that can impact student success. In recent years, financial challenges for college students such as the cost of living and housing rates for students have climbed, creating a new challenge for colleges and universities to retain students, fighting basic needs insecurity. A lack of essential resources such as food, housing, and clothing, as well as general financial strain, are two of the top reasons students say they leave college, closely tied with mental health concerns. Research published this spring from Trellis Strategies found 58% of students had experienced at least one basic needs challenge in the past year, including food insecurity, housing instability, or homelessness, and 9% of these students faced all three concurrently. Similar data from Ellucian found 57% of students have had to choose between paying their college expenses or purchasing basic needs supplies. To address this issue and provide resources to students, many institutions have opened a basic needs resource center, providing free or discounted food, clothing, housing, and transportation support. The University of Houston opened its Center for Student Advocacy and Community in 2020, which houses some of the university’s essential needs programs. I spoke with the center’s director and assistant director about the relationship between student success and basic needs and how to promote resources across campus. Here’s Michael and Kevin.

Ashley Mowreader: Hi, thank you both so much for joining me today. Just to get us started, can you introduce yourselves to our listeners? Who are you and what are your roles at University of Houston?

Kevin Nguyen: Hello, my name is Kevin Nguyen. I use he/they pronouns and I’m the associate director at the University of Houston for the Center for Student Advocacy and Community.

Michael Crook: And good morning, thank you for having me and us. My name is Michael Crook. I use he/him/his pronouns and I am the director of the department. Really, our mission as the Center for Student Advocacy and Community is that we reduce barriers that inhibit like personal and academic success. We help students identify their needs, provide connections and resources, and really support student-led programs and initiatives, really kind of strengthen the campus community, helping students get connected to campus. Students like to describe us as really a home away from home. We like to say we’re the one-stop shop resource hub for if students don’t know where to go to get help, find the support that they need, they can stop here first and then we can get them connected anywhere that they need to go based off of what they share.

Ashley Mowreader: Yeah, that’s awesome. So we’re talking about basic needs today. I wonder just at a high level if you can talk about, you know, what is basic needs insecurity and what does that mean on your campus?

Michael Crook: Basic needs, I think overall and by definition is as someone who lacks or fears of lacking essential resources such as food, housing, child care, transportation, maybe you have some mental health needs. We also include really a sense of connection and belonging on campus as well as being a basic need in order for students to do well on campus.

Kevin Nguyen: I echo a lot of what Michael has said. I also wanted to highlight that at the University of Houston, we also have a CoogsCARE program. We really want to promote the healthiest lifestyle that students can have. And within that, we know that some spaces and places may not always be at the adequate level that they need. And so with our staff, we have folks that range from experiences within admissions, advising, graduation, all the way up till they’re done and completed their degrees. But we know in between, there’s going to be life experiences or circumstances that may not always be ideal. And so we really want to be there for our students.

Ashley Mowreader: Yeah, absolutely. Basic needs insecurity nationally has just grown, right? We’re seeing more students have more concerns about finding food, finding housing, finding the money to pay their bills and things like that. And we know Maslow’s hierarchy of needs says you need to have all those basic things covered to thrive and be a fully prepared and ready student at your institution. I wonder if you can talk a little bit about, you know, how that all adds to the university’s mission to support student success and why this is so critical to the work that’s happening inside and outside the classroom.

Michael Crook: You said that exactly right with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is we have some basic foundation needs in order to reach self-actualization. So our full or our best selves, we’re not going to be able to focus on academics, our classes, if our bellies are growling. It’s difficult. It was difficult before the podcast when I was like, oh, I’m hungry. I need to eat something first to be prepared. So the same way is going to impact students when they’re in highly stressful environments or when they’re working, et cetera. So a lot of times the reason why students, I believe that students don’t finish or graduate school is not always purely academic reasons. It’s all those other life things that are happening to them that’s preventing them from graduating. So we understand that. We get that. A lot of us have personal stories related to basic needs and having those addressed or not having those met and trying to get through college. And so we just want to make sure that we provide all the resources that students need to have the opportunity to succeed. Of course, we can’t do it for them, but we want to. I deeply believe in access and opportunity. And by colleges and universities and our department helping to address those basic needs, we can help students be more of their full selves when they’re in the classroom and helping achieve their goals.

Kevin Nguyen: I think with student success, I’m also a Houston native, so I think the university also really presents itself as a microcosm of our city at large. And within that, some of the services and things that we do now, I would have loved to have had when I went through college because I know how difficult it can be on top of the stress and multitasking and all the responsibilities that are included with being a student. And so, being a first-generation student, my parents didn’t give me as much guidance because they didn’t know. And it’s fine, but I also didn’t know where to find those resources or who to reach out to, or wasn’t sure if I could be as transparent or open about some of my struggles. And I think now, with this growing need for addressing basic needs, that’s becoming less of a stigma. And then it’s also now being more approached in a very holistic way so that we can make sure that students be good citizens and also contributing members of society.

Ashley Mowreader: Yeah, absolutely. With that, I wonder if you can talk a little bit about how the university is addressing basic needs. What are some of those current strategies and services offered to students?

Michael Crook: There’s really no single solution to addressing not just like food insecurity, but housing and transportation, all the issues that students come across when they’re in school. And so we’ve got a whole host of different resources. I think the establishment of our department is one of them. Being a resource hub for students to get them connected and trying to be that one-stop shop. And we are a very large campus, over 48,000 students and lots of specialists on campus. And so we want to just make it easier for students to just be aware and get them to the resources that they need. So some of the things that we have in it, we have established the Cougar Cupboard, which I’ll let Kevin talk about here in just a moment. Really robust solution. But we also have some other things that come out of the department, such as individualized one-on-one resource appointments where students can just complete a form that says, hey, I’m struggling, I have these needs, select a couple boxes, and they can meet with us one-on-one. We’ll talk about whether it’s food or housing issues or clothing or whatever those might be. And that’s a that one-on-one appointment can be so valuable because students can feel scared or unsure of where to move. And then after they leave, they have a plan or at least resources that either on campus or off campus that they can go to. So, we have those online, those individualized resource appointments. We have online, you can see there’s a pretty lots of resources that we spent a lot of time going through and finding in the Houston greater Houston community on and off campus, kind of curating some of the better resources for them to use. So, that’s really good. We have a number of groups that are on campus. I serve as the advisor for the Cougar Closet. So, students who want to feel good in their fit. So, yeah, students can come pick out their clothes and they donate and collect from the community, but also students helping other students just find some good clothes every Friday, you know, that they want to wear. We do some surveys, gathering to try to get a little bit more information about what is the actual need. We have work groups established trying to establish a more sustainable emergency aid type retention grant that’s in progress. So, a lot of different prongs in different areas to address the various different basic needs. But I think the Cougar Cupboard is something that I think we’re really proud of on this campus. And so, I’ll go ahead and let Kevin talk about that.

Kevin Nguyen: Yes, and so I agree with Michael that we have a lot of great experts and folks that want to help students in all aspects of their identities, their living situations, their circumstances. And one of those areas that we have really focused on is the Cougar Cupboard. We were established in January of 2020, so right during the pandemic, and that was also another hurdle that we had to navigate. But then, in itself, we’re wanting to make sure that these students are seeing their support. And so, we also lean on other resources and folks, alumni associations, and networks, and a greater community at large. And so, we’re really excited and glad that we have a partnership with our local food bank, which is the Houston Food Bank. They provide us with supplies and items that range from produce to ready-to-go meals and also even hygiene products sometimes, depending on what they have as their inventory. And we have seen such a growth with our Cougar Cupboard. When we started out in a small office in the campus rec, it was getting about maybe 50 to 500 student visits. And then now we’re in the thousands, like in 2023, I think we surpassed 10,000. And even in these first two weeks, when we started our fall semester of 2024, we saw over 400 new students register to our Cougar Cupboard. So, there is a growing need. And then, we’re glad that we can provide up to 30 pounds of food and grocery items for them. Also, we want to provide other aspects within that because it’s just not getting fed. It’s also providing some nutrition facts. And some, so we also do nutrition workshops. We work with our student organizations a lot. The student organizations like our Metropolitan Volunteer Program, MVP for short, also helps us out in the Cougar Cupboard. So it’s also students helping other students. And though that really becomes very much of a mutual goal for everyone on campus to address these basic needs, but also focus on one of the main words of our center titles, which is community. And so we are really wanting to have students feel again home away from home because then sometimes some other people’s home situations aren’t as ideal as others.

Ashley Mowreader: Yeah, absolutely. One of the central missions of your office is access, right? Making sure that students know and have the ability to use these resources. And as a new-ish office and cupboard on campus, I wonder if you can talk about outreach and making sure that students are aware of these services and that they’re utilizing them and that this is accessible for all of them.

Michael Crook: Yeah, we do a lot of things. We try to reach the students where we’re at in any way that we can. So much of our success, I think, as a department, especially being somewhat new, is that it’s related to our collaborative nature, both as individual staff members, but then as a department as a whole. We build ourselves into what are some already successful programs that are already going on, that train’s already moving in this direction. We hop on and it kind of does the work for us. The other thing is that we’re community builders as people, as an office, and we just want to bring people closer together. And so once people know and trust that you care about them, they’re willing to listen to whatever that you say or do, or you know. And so, we do that. So, we have a number of community-building-type activities throughout the year that are social in nature. During Weeks of Welcome, we have major mixers that students will come in and interact and get to know. And then they just think it’s a fun mixer social party where there’s DJs and food and like easy activities. But then we throw in, hey, this is the Cougar Cupboard. If you ever have a need, don’t forget that this is the office. We’re very intentional about making sure our staff whenever we present workshops or anything else, we don’t just show our face, we show our entire team space so that people know the name and the people so they can at least connect when they see us across campus. And I know Kevin gets stopped all the time of, hey, I saw you, or I knew you elsewhere, you know, from some other place. And then they ask a bunch of unrelated questions. So, that’s exactly what we want. We do put ourselves in what we have, Coog News, the standard marketing channels. We do weekly email distributions. We’ll do the social medias trying to keep those relevant that students will follow the content just in general. The other thing is, it’s not just, for example, with the Cougar Cupboard, we’re not just giving out food, but we’re also giving nutrition workshops. And so, there’s different ways that people can engage at different points. The other thing, which I really love too, is we have, you know, I talked about those mixers that were really popular in the beginning of the school year. Well, students are like, we want them every week. Well, unfortunately, we can’t do that. That’s a lot of work. We liked it though. So we have this event. Now we call it Together Thursdays. And so every Thursday morning, we get a quick breakfast snack, whether it’s a kolache or a donut or something small, really low cost. We’ll have a little Keurig coffee maker, some tea. Students can come in. It’s a grab and go type event. But we’ve partnered with student organizations because we know that’s the lifeblood of this organization. Nothing’s going to be successful if we don’t bring in student groups. And so we’ll have them now. They sponsor, if you will. I put up little air quotes for that. They sponsor the events, meaning they just show up and they lead some sort of social activity to help people get connected. They get a table, talk about their organization. We provide the food. And we have 100, 150 people come in every Thursday. And so at that point in time, we also notice that those students who come to that are maybe not coming to other events. So if you get food, students are going to come. We meet them where they’re at. Then we talk about all of our different resources that are there. So those are some of the ways that we reach out. And then it’s honestly, it’s word of mouth. People, once they hear us, they have a really good experience. They’ll tell their friends. And so yesterday we just had student groups in our office, for example. Every night our office is booked out so students can reserve the space to be in here. And they’re like, I didn’t even know about this space, but it just feels welcoming. And so part of that is even the physical space can be really powerful and outreach to students. So once they get in the space, we don’t have to say anything, but we have affirmations on the wall. We have a welcoming environment. We have blankets for students to use, charging stations, things that students would want to kneel and use. And then we get them with the information. And then we ask them about their grades and their tests and their study habits and have they eaten. And then the other thing that I’ll throw out there is that, and I’m mentioning a lot of things, but Kevin talked about the Cougar Cupboard, which is a huge over 2,000 square foot space that students can use. But we also have like little pocket pantries. So in our office, come by every day. We have it, it’s from floor to ceiling resource wall, and people can pick up hygiene products or maybe just a granola bar or something that’s in between classes. They can pick up two items each day. It doesn’t get them in just once, but it helps them come back throughout the year. So the outreach isn’t just a one-off help you, but it says, hey, we teach you and we develop things that you can come back weekly for breakfast or daily for this little snack or just in general. And so that helps us build a better, closer community on such a large campus.

Ashley Mowreader: Yeah, absolutely. And I love that it’s community oriented too. So it’s like, bring a friend. It’s not just you have to show up and try this scary thing by yourself. It’s let’s all go to this thing and engage with the team or whatever. Something Kevin mentioned earlier was stigma around using basic needs resources to address insecurity. How is that manifested on campus, and how is the office trying to encourage students to utilize resources as available?

Kevin Nguyen: I think when we talk about reducing stigma or just treating individuals as the genuine, beautiful human beings that they are, it also reflects in our own staff because then we treat one another and check in on each other and make sure that we are also taking care of one another. But then it also gives a little bit more genuine interactions with one another to see how we can do genuine interactions with our students. So, part of how we reduce stigma with our Cougar Cupboard is we have a great relationship with our student housing and residential life. We got a new space since we saw the growing need coming from the campus rec. Now we’re going to be in a residential space. So we’re really meeting where the students are at, just like Michael said. We created it and made the space look like and feel like a little store. Students check in, we double check to make sure that for data purposes and just to make sure that they have registered for our program, that they have a UHID number, they’re an enrolled student. Then they also get given a HUH number, which is the Houston Food Bank number, so that we can also share that data and information to them while we receive items and donations from them. They check in, they get a little handbasket or rolling cart, depending what they need. They walk through the space, they’ll stop by the dry goods and canned goods first, and then there’s a produce section. We are fortunate to have two refrigeration units and a freezer unit that makes more items last longer and also that students can take home. And then at the end, they check out. We make sure that they don’t exceed their 30 pounds. We also help them bag their stuff and so that they can take home. But we make the process feel as if it’s natural. And then all of our staff, our student staff, are amazing because then they are always greeting folks with smiles and there are no judgments or weird looks or anything because we just don’t know where people’s circumstances are at. Within that, like it makes more students talk about our space and have vibrant colors. And we just make sure that they have a good experience the whole time. And then so that is how we reduce some of the stigma because we know students are just they have needs. And as long as we’re helping meet them, they feel that genuine altruism that comes with helping our students. Some of them have experienced it themselves, or some of our, even our student staff are Cougar Cupboard users as well. And so it really comes from a genuine place of care and support.

Michael Crook: Yeah, that’s awesome. And that’s related. It’s the openness and when we have stories that are related to it, we share that. It’s like, I used to be that way too. I am that way sometimes, you’re right. And so it’s the relatability. Oftentimes, things hurt you more when we don’t, you can’t name it. Whether that’s some sort of diagnosis that you’re waiting for or something, internal feelings that are overwhelming sometimes, if you name it, it has less power, right? And so if we just name food insecurity and say, hey, it exists, we have data that backs it up, national data. One in three students are experiencing food insecurity on our campus. We have some of the data to back that up that suggests that that exists that way here on UH’s campus as well. The other thing is students will, we’re friendly and students like us a little bit, I suppose, but they actually, I mean, they’re always going to connect better with one another. And so we have, like Kevin was mentioning, students and we put them in the forefront, having them speak, having them share their stories, getting media attention. Last semester, we partnered with communications class and they did a whole help us with our marketing and we’re your client and improve our situation. And through just that whole process, they got really excited and they started advertising all the great offerings. And when you say free groceries for any student, there’s no parameter, nothing that’s needed. Though you reduce those barriers, you increase the access, and then there’s less barriers with that with the stigma as well. The other side thing is that we also recognize that some people don’t want to be seen coming in and out of the cupboard sometimes. So we have, you know, decorative, really colorful outside space, the decals, but they’re actually privacy screens as well. So you can’t see inside, but you can see outside and sun still comes in. So small details and attention like that, all of it just helps the overall experience really nice. I don’t know if you mentioned the coloring books that we have there, the coloring stuff and activities and fidget spinner stuff that we have in the space too. So people can kind of just hang out in the space as well. Creates a different vibe when you go in there. All of what we’re trying to do is just reduce the line in terms of we know that the need is great. Sometimes we’re really excited when we can serve 500 people in a day like today. But then also it’s like, wow, that’s 500 people who are depending on this resource every single week.

Ashley Mowreader: Yeah, absolutely. Resources and funding are obviously huge obstacles in this work for a lot of institutions. And so when it comes to resources and partners, you mentioned working with the local food bank, but who are some of those other groups that are supporting this initiative? And I wonder if you can talk about what makes those partnerships work because I’m sure a lot of others are wondering how can I do this on my campus too?

Kevin Nguyen: Yeah, we have a good amount of folks, but we will always welcome more because resources are limited. We have a great relationship with our local credit union, TDECU, which stands for the Texas Dow Employee Credit Union. They are a frequent sponsor for us, and we are very grateful for what they have given to us. So they also help us with financial literacy workshops or provide events where we can promote the cupboard, but also make sure that we’re also touching on the different aspects of student life. And so, I know we also have a relationship with the American Heart Association. They are also very giving people that want to help support everyone, anyone, and especially students. And so, part of that was helping us, one, try to become more of a pantry that provides healthier items and also guidance on what kind of items that we can give out. So, they have given us some HER guidelines, which is HER, healthy eating recommendations. We have a little bit of a stoplight system that we’re going to implement where the reds are going to choose rarely, yellows are choose sometimes, then greens are choose often for more of the nutritious items that we have. That is one great partnership we have too. And then there’s just some people that are very just giving people alumni give to us either groceries or even monetary values. Have fun, friendly food drive competitions with our Big 12 partners or universities colleges that are also having food pantries. And then so within that, during one of our food drives, part of the ticket sales went to the Cougar Cupboard. There was also a generous donation of $10,000 from Baytex Energy because the person that donated the money was a spouse of a professor here at the university who heard about our Cougar Cupboard services. And we are so grateful for that. And that is always a growing need. But we also know that with inflation, grocery prices going up and other items going up, that financial help is always appreciated. And we continue trying to do the work and be good stewards of that money.

Michael Crook: It’s definitely a collective effort. There’s no way it truly we can make this happen. It takes a village. All our sponsors, our donors, the partnerships that are built in that Kevin mentioned are truly vital. We love the American Heart Association. It’s such an unexpected group, but they come in and they’re saying, hey, we want everyone to not just eat, but eat healthy. And it just, it’s a partnership when you have people who are values aligned, who are financially aligned, when it’s everyone has a role and everyone has a part. And then there’s like our volunteers. We can’t run without the volunteers. The people power to make this operation work is immense. And students want it to be open up more, but we need more staffing, that kind of thing. So we rely heavily on the students, the partners, the community partners, Coog Moms, they give us this fall grant every year. So we’ll take anything from everywhere.

Kevin Nguyen: And I really appreciate, again, the community efforts, because then it really truly becomes a collective. So the American Heart Association is also helping us out by connecting us with other local colleges, universities, community colleges, food banks that are in the Houston area and surrounding areas. And so they’ve been doing meetings where we can gather together, talk about tips, tricks, or what we best practices or what we’ve learned from our own experiences. Some people are just starting to implement or initiate a food pantry on their campus. And so we’re always exchanging ideas, contact information, and also helping each other out. Also, again, with the Big 12, there is a food pantry alliance where they meet and then talk about things that work in their space and places. I like to talk about the Cougar Cupboard a lot, where it’s like running a nonprofit at a state institution. So there’s a lot of different layers that come in with how to navigate those dynamics. And it’s great that we have so many folks and resources and connections that we can talk to and also refer to so that we can all do the work together.

Ashley Mowreader: That’s wonderful. What is next for your office and for the cupboard specifically? What’s something on the horizon or what’s the big dream?

Michael Crook: Ah, so many dreams. Our president, Renu Khator, she said once said it in her president’s address, I think maybe five, 10 years ago, but I always remember. She says, you can dream big or you can dream small, but it still costs the same. So we were over here, we’re trying to dream big, and then, but we’ll take small steps each year and see if we can build on it. So right now, I think we just have students getting to know our office, getting to know that we are their resource hub, we are the place where they can go. We still offer a very welcoming community vibe, and we’re here for you, whatever that need might be. Basic needs go far beyond just food insecurity. And I think that is maybe the flagship offering that we have right now. And it still continues to grow and work. And we need some additional sponsorships and maybe staffing to make that work. So getting our data, collecting the stories, the testimonies, and things to prove that I think on that realm. I think for some of our other areas of the department, we really want to look at how we can address housing insecurity. There are a lot of students who are sleeping in different places every night, and so we want to be just as difficult to focus on school when you don’t have a consistent place to study and keep your things and stuff. So, we want to continue to look at what are those other resources. So, housing insecurity, transportation. We’re in a huge city. Some students are taking a bus for two hours. Some staff come in two hours to and from work every single day to just get in campus. So, how do we just make it easier for them? How do we shorten the line just overall? And then, and the need. I think we’ll continue to survey folks. We want to get an emergency grant, something really sustainable for the department is a priority for me. That if a student is experiencing an emergency, this is a retention grant. This is something you can come in here. We will provide you the help and the support, not do it for you, but just enough to stay in school. So, I think those are some of the things, but continue to develop those relationships. Yeah. Yeah. Kevin, what else? What’s next for us?

Kevin Nguyen: For some of the dreams and goals that I can think of right now with the Cougar Cupboard is with our diverse student population, we want more diverse offerings of food items and stuff too, but also educational. Sometimes we want to provide more Asian cuisines or recipes and stuff. And then when people see a different kind of vegetable or fruit, they’re not unsure about how to use it, utilize it, or even what kind of nutritious value they have. That is something that we want to hopefully more expand. So I have a very strong international student population here at the University of Houston. So we want to also create that environment for them too and the support. Then also with our international students, sometimes they don’t always get to go home during holidays. And so ideally, we would be open more often or extended a little bit if we can, if we have the staff and means to, but also give them that sense of community while other folks may not be on campus or not as many people on campus that we can hopefully work more year-round and be open so that we can always continue being a resource.

Ashley Mowreader: Yeah. So we’ll just give you unlimited money, unlimited time, and unlimited people, and then everything will work out, right?

Kevin Nguyen: Hopefully I win the lotto. Yes, yes.

Ashley Mowreader: Perfect. Well, thank you both so much for your time. It was great speaking with you both.

Kevin Nguyen: Yeah, thank you.

Michael Crook: Thank you so much. My pleasure.

Ashley Mowreader: And a very big thank you to our listeners for joining us today for this episode of Voices of Student Success. In two weeks, I’ll be discussing the role of mentorship on belonging and persistence among college students and how one university is intentionally crafting mentoring relationships on campus. That’s all for this episode. I’m Ashley Mowreader, and I’ll see you real soon.