Food and housing security — or a lack thereof — are a growing focus of awareness and action on college campuses. Research on basic needs in a college environment, though, has not kept pace, leaving significant gaps in knowledge about who is using such services and why, or why not.

Hoping to help fill those gaps, UC Santa Barbara is launching a research effort to illuminate barriers to the use of campus basic needs services and root causes of food and housing insecurity among an especially understudied student community — Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI). The project has just received a grant from the AAPI Data program at UC Riverside, which is awarding $1.1 million across five UC campuses to probe the needs of AANHPI residents of California, and to provide policy recommendations to address those needs.

The Addressing Basic Needs Equity Gaps at UCSB Research Program will employ mixed-methods research using both community-based and human-centered approaches, including a survey, an undergraduate course and a community advisory board.

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