National Basic Needs Research Council

No single institution has the capacity to address the full range of issues related to material basic needs of individuals and families.

The National Basic Needs Research Council is being created to leverage the joint resources of the National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN) and Yale University School of Medicine to facilitate a sustainable, nationwide infrastructure of basic needs researchers studying a diverse range of policy-relevant issues.

The Research Council will bring together scientists from across research disciplines such as economics, medicine, nursing, sociology, social work, and demography. The goal is to develop a comprehensive and interdisciplinary understanding of the issues of basic needs and material hardship using a multi-generational perspective.

The Research Council will operate with three main functions:

1. Serving as the primary convener for researchers addressing the issues of diaper need, period poverty, and/or other issues related to the lack of basic necessities;
2. Providing pilot research grants to researchers engaged in basic needs research or researchers who wish to engage in basic needs research; and
3. Supporting two graduate research fellowships to students across the U.S. who would like to engage in the issues of diaper need, period poverty, and/or other issues related to the lack of basic necessities.