Bay Area Foreclosures: The Toll on Children, Youth and Family Life

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Despite significant media attention dedicated to the mortgage crisis and an expanded commitment to foreclosure prevention, little has been said about the effects of foreclosures on the well-being of children and youth. It is estimated that 8 million, or ten percent, of children in the U.S. could be affected by pending foreclosures. As of May 2008, approximately 311,900 children had been affected in California alone since the start of the crisis.

Research on residential instability suggests potentially dire consequences for child development, educational achievement, and physical and mental health. Foreclosure compels families to move, usually to inferior housing or neighborhoods, and places parents under enormous financial and emotional stress.

High levels of housing mobility have been linked to poor test performance, a greater likelihood of delinquent and violent behavior, and lower likelihood of grade completion. Additionally, early residential instability—three or more moves between the ages of four and seven— makes children thirteen percent less likely to graduate from high school and puts them at higher risk for involvement with Child Protective Services.

Too often, organizations working with adults to prevent foreclosure are not connected to family support services. At the same time, educators and social service providers who see the impact on children and youth are not always aware of resources for economic and housing assistance.

Come Join Us To

• Learn and explore strategies to mitigate the effects of the Bay Area foreclosure crisis on children.


• Participate in dialogue and knowledge–sharing between experts in the child and family support world, and those who primarily work in the housing and economic security field.


• Discuss ways that service providers and educators, community activists, policymakers, funders, and experts can work together to promote children's well–being.

Target Audience

This program is free and open to NCG members and non–member funders. Non–member funders should contact NCG directly.

Presenters

Adam Kruggel is the Executive Director of Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO), a nonprofit committed to building civic engagement and increasing public participation by those most affected by injustice and inequity in Contra Costa County. Prior to joining CCISCO, Adam was the lead organizer at the San Francisco Organizing Project, where he was responsible for leading the YIMBY (Yes In My BackYard) campaign to bring 5,000 new units of affordable housing in diverse neighborhoods across the city. Adam has worked with other organizations across the country including the Northwest Neighborhood Federation in Chicago, where he served as lead organizer, and the Coalition of Low–Income and Homeless Citizens in Bloomington, Indiana, where he served as lead volunteer.

Meliah Schultzman is an attorney at the National Housing Law Project in Oakland and works with local domestic violence advocates to enforce victims' housing rights in the nine–county Bay Area. Her work focuses on increasing awareness by advocates and tenants of federal and state law protections; collaboratively developing policies that address the needs of domestic violence survivors and their children; and improving compliance by public housing agencies and subsidized landlords. Through training of advocates, collaboration with housing providers, and policy advocacy on the local, state, and national level, she works to strengthen housing protections for domestic violence survivors.

Richard Speiglman is Senior Research Analyst at the Child and Family Policy Institute of California and Managing Partner of the research and evaluation firm Speiglman Norris Associates. With several colleagues, he helped to organize key stakeholders to talk about the need in California to develop policy and program strategies to mitigate the effects of foreclosure on children. Richard's work includes the count and survey of homeless persons in Alameda County. Richard studied sociology before completing doctoral work in criminology at UC Berkeley and a post–doc at Berkeley's School of Public Health.

Junious Williams is Chief Executive Officer of Urban Strategies Council, a community building support and advocacy organization in Oakland. Previously as Associate Director of Programs for Educational Opportunity at the University of Michigan's School of Education, Junious did extensive work with schools on desegregation, education equity, and school improvement. He currently serves as Board Chair for the Oakland Community Land Trust which is working to acquire and rehabilitate 200 vacant, foreclosed properties in Oakland. Junious holds a Juris Doctorate in law and a Bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Michigan.

Moderator

Hedy N. Chang has over 18 years of experience working in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. A major focus of her current work is managing an applied research project on chronic early absence for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. When she served as a Senior Program Officer for Strengthening Families at the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, she oversaw its grantmaking focused on helping families succeed economically and prepare their children for school through investments in low–income neighborhoods combined with local and state policy work. She is also the former Co–Director of California Tomorrow.

Sponsors

The San Francisco Foundation
S.H. Cowell Foundation