Alumnus Ruben Canedo’s focus and passion is educational justice for students with basic needs insecurity. As UC Berkeley’s director of strategic equity initiatives, he is striving to make sure college students have the food, housing and other essentials they need to succeed in school and life. Recent data from the California Student Aid Commission show that 66% of postsecondary students in California are food insecure, and 53% lack secure housing. While still an undergraduate at Berkeley, Canedo helped conceptualize the campus’s Undocumented Student Program, which opened in 2012. In 2014, he launched Berkeley’s food pantry, then spearheaded the Basic Needs Center. Launched in 2019, the center served more than 7,000 unique students and had nearly 27,000 total contacts in 2023-24. “Ruben’s vision of a just world, where students have everything they need to grasp education and life opportunities, inspires me,” said Fabrizio Mejia, Berkeley’s interim vice chancellor for the Division of ...