Basic Needs Center now houses private spaces for students to meet with case management coordinators
By AALIYAH ESPAÑOL-RIVAS — campus@aggie.org
In time for the start of the new school year, the Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center (ACBNC) has reopened for students, expanding into the old ASUCD Pantry room located in the Memorial Union (MU).
The center, which was first introduced to campus in 2018 and whose expansion was completed in late August, aims to provide students with resources including housing, finances, food security and mental health.
The expansion began after the ASUCD Pantry relocated from the main MU concourse into the space on the building’s west perimeter, across from the campus bookstore and the ATM wall, in 2024, according to Leslie Kemp, the director of the Basic Needs Initiative at UC Davis and Aggie Compass.
“We’ve made some physical changes in the way the center is set up, and we’re able to help support students more efficiently,” Kemp said. “So I’m hoping students coming in will see that change.”
Lorena Alvarez Flores, a third-year political science major and special project lead at ACBNC, explained that prior to the expansion, the staff of ACBNC were split across campus at offices in Dutton Hall and Lower Freeborn.
“We were spread out everywhere,” Alvarez Flores said. “We’re hoping we feel less like separate teams and instead [like] a whole team now that we’re all in the same place.”
“We knocked down the door and wall between the two centers so it feels more like a walk-through between the two offices,” Kemp said of the expansion. “Now all of us can sit together — our students and [professional career] staff — which I’m so glad could happen.”
Aside from repainting and refurbishing the office space, Kemp explained the expansion has allowed a restructuring of the center to more adequately assist students.
“Some of the things we do need administration, like [professional career] staff, to sit and run the back end of the program,” Kemp said. “Other students may need coordinators who do case management work that need private spaces. And most of all, these programs need students, our peer navigators, to provide mentorship and guidance.”
One side of the office now houses their coordinators and private meeting cubicles, while the other side houses peer navigators who work the front desk, with other administrative staff in the back.
Additionally, the expansion has allowed for ACBNC’s storage of basic needs supplies to be centralized in their office, including their diaper closet and essentials pantry.
“Students get a more in-person experience instead of a remote or distant one because now everything and everyone is all in one place,” Alvarez Flores said.
Kemp believes there is still an opportunity for an even bigger expansion in the future, but is hopeful that the current changes will prove to be in service to the students.
“I think in terms of the renovation, it’s still too small,” Kemp said. “The most important takeaway is that [the expansion is] not just this exciting thing — it’s that the expansion brought changes to how we do business that is more supportive to our mission and our goals.”
The center is slated to host their Basic Needs Fair on Oct. 17 on the MU Quad where students can find resources for housing, food, clothing and CalFresh applications. Students can locate ACBNC’s resources and the basic needs assistance request form on their official website.
Written by: Aaliyah Español-Rivas — campus@theaggie.org
