Our Story

History

The Basic Needs Center, previously named the Human Services Resource Center, was first proposed by two students as the financial crisis began to hit Oregon in roughly 2008. Our first program, started in 2000, pre-dates the formal proposal and was a subsidy for a group of students required to purchase health insurance (this program was discontinued in 2016). At the BNC you can read the proposal from an ASOSU committee document from around 2008.

In 2009, students started our pantry as a graduate project. Their goal was to help connect students with needed resources, on campus. OSU’s campus-based food pantry was among the first in the country. Thanks to our partnership with the Linn-Benton Food Share and generous support to our OSU Foundation Account we are able to operate the OSU Food Pantry weekly. The OSU Food Pantry is part of The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and is a partner agency of Linn Benton Food Share. OSU Foundation is the fiscal sponsor of the OSU Food Pantry. The OSU Food Pantry is an equal opportunity provider. 

As the food pantry and early Mealbux program took shape, administrators and student leaders began to formally adopt the vision of a one-stop office, with a suite of supportive resources students experiencing homelessness and food security challenges.

2011 was the start of a centrally located department with the first program administrator hired.

In 2016, the HSRC moved to [then named] Avery Lodge. The building had previously been a residential building.

The textbook lending program began with a few donated books on rolling carts. This program grew with grant support and later with regular funding. 

In 2017-2018, students, faculty, and community members engaged in anti-racist activism, advocacy, and research aiming to improve practices and included requests for building name changes. The university responded renaming buildings including Avery Lodge, which became Champinefu Lodge.

Students in the first years of the center grew basic needs support programming and awareness of need and benefits programs available to students. The first professional staff position under the director of the HSRC was hired in 2018. This position supported benefits navigation for students. This began a shift in program development where new program areas of support were created, tested, and then staffing grew to support these offerings for students. In years since, the BNC added staff similarly to support food security programming, peer-to-peer strategy building conversations, community building programs, and resource literacy.

In 2019, President Ed Ray and the trustees, acting upon student feedback, brought additional focus on food security to cross-campus efforts.

The Covid-19 pandemic in spring of 2020 resulted in an emphasis shift toward food access programs, benefits programs, and remote support for students as campus operations shifted to maintain service to students. During this time, processes and relationships related to food sourcing were developed to support the OSU Food Pantry operation at a greater volume. This time period resulted in greater awareness of student support programs and broad destigmatization of help-seeking behavior within the campus community. 

House Bill 2835 establishing funding for benefits navigators on college campuses in Oregon passed in 2021. This bill in part reflected the successful model of work at Oregon State University and the efforts of the HSRC team and their advocacy contributed to the visibility of basic needs of college students in the state.

Our program changed its name to become the Basic Needs Center in Spring of 2022, reflecting a change into a community center where students help students. The peer-to-peer model of basic needs support centers student development, focusing on strategy building, the assets students bring, and their capacity to learn and grow.

Current program focus elevates leadership development and community building activities to resource individuals and the community. At the BNC, students grow in their ability to meet their basic needs as they work toward graduation.