2020-2021: Spencer Foundation Foster and Housing Insecure Youth Network Improvement Community
Orange County faces a persistent housing insecurity problem – approximately 27,000 youth experience housing insecurity each year. Homelessness rose 54 percent between 2013 and 2017 in Orange County, with an estimated cost of $300 million per year to our collective communities. Persistent housing problems will also become increasingly pressing as the economic impacts of COVID-19 continue to compound in coming years.
In August, the Spencer Foundation awarded a grant to OCEAN to, alongside local school and community organizations, implement systems to support housing insecure and foster youth. Our project is an opportunity to address housing insecurity at a large scale and encourage stakeholders across the county to take action and develop new strategies to support our vulnerable youth. Over the next two years, OCEAN professors and graduate students will hold convenings with school administrators, staff, and students to identify best practices and build a data sharing platform to track improvements in supporting housing insecure and foster youth. We invite local school leaders and the Orange County community to join in this partnership with OCEAN. Together, we have an opportunity to address housing insecurity across the county, develop novel strategies, and take action.
Orange County faces a persistent housing insecurity problem – approximately 27,000 youth experience housing insecurity each year. Homelessness rose 54 percent between 2013 and 2017 in Orange County, with an estimated cost of $300 million per year to our collective communities. Persistent housing problems will also become increasingly pressing as the economic impacts of COVID-19 continue to compound in coming years.
In August, the Spencer Foundation awarded a grant to OCEAN to, alongside local school and community organizations, implement systems to support housing insecure and foster youth. Our project is an opportunity to address housing insecurity at a large scale and encourage stakeholders across the county to take action and develop new strategies to support our vulnerable youth. Over the next two years, OCEAN professors and graduate students will hold convenings with school administrators, staff, and students to identify best practices and build a data sharing platform to track improvements in supporting housing insecure and foster youth. We invite local school leaders and the Orange County community to join in this partnership with OCEAN. Together, we have an opportunity to address housing insecurity across the county, develop novel strategies, and take action.