Basic needs efforts started on the UC Berkeley campus after student organizing led to the demand for a food pantry on campus. Student advocacy and efforts led to the opening of the first food pantry which opened off campus at Stiles Hall in 2014 as campus leaders were concerned around the optics of having a pantry on campus. Continued efforts by student leaders and staff within the division of Equity & Inclusion supported the move of the Basic Needs Food Pantry to its current location in the ASUC MLK Student Union in bNorth in 2017.
While the Food Pantry was the first basic needs-related program on campus, there was no dedicated staff or funding to inform the work. In 2017, the UCB campus received seed funding from the Global Food Initiative and UC Office of the President, as well as funding from the Wellness and CACSSF funds to support the hiring of a part-time Pantry Coordinator, and eventually the Basic Needs Manager in 2018. With dedicated staffing for these efforts, the small but mighty team was able to open the Basic Needs Center in the spring of 2019.
Articles about the BNC's Opening
