Hi y’all! My name is Brian Glickman and I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. From there, I hopped on up to Walla Walla, Washington to attend my undergraduate institution. I spent seven years at Whitman College, four as a student, and three as a Resident Director. In my role as a Resident Director, I worked to help build and foster communities centered around belonging, open-communication, and joy. I’ve also been known to engage in some more out-of-the-box, food-based events, such as butter dancing or greased watermelon relay-races. To be clear, these are both exactly...
Joyce Huchin graduated from UC Berkeley in Spring 2021 and has been involved with the Basic Needs Center since their first semester as an undergraduate. Their work is motivated by their own experience as a low-income and first-generation college student from a mixed status family, and the resources from the Basic Needs Center were central to their success as a student. Previously, they served as the ASUC Student Advocate, an elected position that oversees the Student Advocate's Office (SAO). SAO is an executive, non-partisan office that offers free and confidential casework services and...
My journey has always guided me towards work that is rooted in justice, transformation and healing. Improving the health outcomes of individuals and communities by way of building relationships and lifting the collective voices of communities is at the core of my value system as these issues are connected to larger issues of social justice. My past and current experiences as a social work professional for the past 12 years has been in the juvenile justice and mental health fields. When I learned about the Basic Needs efforts at UC Berkeley, I knew I had found...
Marcia Garcia grew up in the border region and spent her first years between El Centro, California and Mexicali, Mexico before moving to Chula Vista, California. Marcia joined the Basic Needs Center as the Graduate Student Lead during her second semester of graduate school. In this role, Marcia and the graduate team worked on improving outreach to graduate students and increasing resources, including expanding CalFresh eligibility for graduate students. Additionally, Marcia helped co-...
Growing up I developed a strong connection to sharing food with those around me, since that was how I learned to connect in a community without many siblings or extended family nearby. The thing that higher education gave me was a deeper sense of interconnectedness and also the complexity in our bodies and lives, related to, but also beyond food. I was shaped by this community and am honored to work towards a more holistic basic needs program, but also motivated to support students in the ways that I felt supported in my time at Cal. If we can ensure that food is a right –...
Co-Chair of the UC Systemwide Basic Needs Committee
Growing up in a mixed status and binational family with a disabled body introduced me at an early age to harm, trauma, injustice, and oppression. Most importantly, it taught me how brilliant, resilient, loving, and transformative our family and community relationships are. I survived and am here today because of family and community. Growing up, everyone would take care of each other to make sure folx had food, shelter, and community. I believe in a world that will learn and heal beyond its current white-supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, and ableism. The way I can contribute to that...