This post was updated May 10 at 9:58 p.m.
Back in early 2018, a small group of Bruins had a simple idea: what if we could create a space for students to donate their basic needs items back to other students? Though it started off as a small project involving colorful clothing donation bins, this mission exploded into a cross-campus collaboration between dozens of student organizations, external nonprofits and campus administrators.
That same year, we celebrated the Basic Needs Redistribution Center’s grand opening in Room B54 of the Student Activities Center.
Two years later, during my tenure as UCLA’s Student Body President, students voted in a historic referendum to make the center a permanent fixture on campus. By overwhelmingly voting in favor of permanently increasing their fees by a dollar a year, students agreed to provide a permanent source of funding to the center. Through this effort, what started as a seemingly infeasible idea became a lasting campus institution, built by and for Bruins.
The referendum coincided with my Undergraduate Students Association Council office’s broader mission of making campus more affordable for students, whether that be through lowering laundry costs, reducing the price of exam materials or making basic needs accessibility a trusted student government priority.
Since then, the Good Clothes Good People Basic Needs Referendum has served as a critical funding source for thousands of students from all socioeconomic backgrounds who use the center to access free school supplies and hygiene products, in addition to the donated clothes and other basic needs items offered at the center.
However, despite the remarkable success that the center has achieved, my generation of student leadership was unable to fully evaluate some of the future challenges that the center would face in maximizing the full potential of the referendum’s funding.
Most critically, there was the narrow language of the referendum itself. At the time of my USAC office’s drafting of the referendum, we anticipated that the only basic needs items that would need to be covered in the referendum’s language were “school supplies” and “hygiene products.” We believed that the rest of the items offered by the center would continue to be steadily donated by students.
But the COVID-19 pandemic changed things.
The pandemic forced students to leave campus and prevented those in financial distress from accessing the center. The narrow language of the referendum caused the student leadership of the Basic Needs Redistribution Center to navigate numerous procedural hurdles to even secure permission to offer virtual basic needs “gift cards” for students. Since students’ return to campus, the center has faced challenges in using its funding to purchase items that fall outside the scope of the two categories explicitly listed in the referendum’s language: “school supplies” and “hygiene products.”
Then, this academic year, an even larger issue arose.
With little notice, the Basic Needs Redistribution Center was informed by administration that the center may be removed from its space. While this threat was ultimately resolved internally between the center’s student leadership, USAC officers and administration, it again highlighted the restrictive language of the referendum. Had the center been evicted from its home in SAC B54, it would have been unable to use a portion of the referendum funding as “rent” for alternative spaces on campus.
Now, in an effort to secure the center as a permanent and expansive basic needs resource for students, this year’s student leaders (from both within Good Clothes Good People – the organization that operates the center – and USAC) are running an amendment to the original 2020 referendum that will appear on the USAC elections ballot later this week.
One would be forgiven for questioning whether to vote in favor of changing the language of a referendum that was overwhelmingly passed by a previous generation of students.
But, as one of those former students, and as the founder of UCLA’s Basic Needs Redistribution Center, I would be the first to recognize that this amendment is absolutely necessary for the center’s continued survival and expansion. Without increasing any student fees, this amendment will empower current and future generations of students to decide for themselves how to best meet the evolving challenge of basic needs insecurity.
I couldn’t think of a more worthy cause.
Signed collectively,
Robert Blake Watson is a UCLA alumnus. He was UCLA’s 2019-2020 Student Body President and founder of Good Clothes Good People and UCLA’s Basic Needs Redistribution Center.
2024-2025 USAC Leadership
Adam Tfayli, Student Body President
Josh Garland, USAC Internal vice president
Javier Nuñez-Verdugo, USAC External vice president
Diego Bollo, USAC General representative 1
Tommy Contreras, USAC General representative 2
Chris Ramsey, USAC General representative 3
Carolyn Wang, USAC Community Service commissioner
Chiara Frank, USAC Student Wellness commissioner
Nico Morrone, USAC Financial Supports commissioner
Cristopher Espino, USAC Academic Affairs commissioner
Joy Huang, USAC Facilities commissioner
Robert Hall, USAC Campus Events commissioner
Kyland Talbott, USAC Cultural Affairs commissioner
Mona Tavassoli, USAC Transfer student representative
Syed Tamim Ahmad, USAC International student representative
2024-2025 Good Clothes Good People Leadership
Holly Hebden, Good Clothes Good People president
Ivy Nguyen, Good Clothes Good People Co-Internal vice president
Lily Rivas, Good Clothes Good People Co-Internal vice president
Joselle Barnoya, Good Clothes Good People External vice president
Lynna Si, Good Clothes Good People Center director
Nancy Phan, Good Clothes Good People Finance director
Sarah Giovennella, Good Clothes Good People Advocacy director
Hannah Kim, Good Clothes Good People Sustainability director
Natalie Liu, Good Clothes Good People Publicity director
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