Recognizing the Community Cultural Wealth of Unstably Housed Families

• In Event: Of Archives, Unstably Housed Families, Languages, and the Chicago Young Lords: Community Cultural Wealth Connections

Abstract

Overview:
Nationwide 1.6 to 2.8 million youth experience housing instability (Murphy and Tobin, 2011). Housing unstable students experience trauma and disruption (Raikes et. al. 2017), score lower than their stably housed peers on achievement tests, are less likely to be promoted (ICPH 2017), and “face challenges that threaten everything they might want to achieve in life—graduating from high school, going on to college and pursuing meaningful work” (Raikes, et.al., 2017, para 1). Unstably housed students are also more likely to change schools several times and to be suspended, especially students of color (APA, n.d.). Latina/o/x and Black students are more likely to experience homelessness (Olivet, et. al., 2018; Aviles & Heybach, 2017), a reflection of the racial/ethnic disparities and hierarchies that exist in the United States. Housing instability is a by-product of systemic inequity (NAEH, 2020), placing Latina/o/x youth at a 33% higher risk, and Black youth at an 83% higher risk of becoming homeless (Morton, et al., 2017). Latina/o/x school age children comprise 38% of unstably housed students, and Black students 27% despite being 26% and 15% respectively, of the overall student body (NCHE, 2021). Families with children are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population (APA, n.d.), with approximately 51,000 households having at least one child under the age of 18 (US Dept., HUD, 2022). Despite these challenges, unstably housed students consistently pursue education, successfully matriculating through K-12 systems, all in an effort to secure stability and work toward social mobility. With strong systems of support and coordination, schools can be critical spaces of hope and transformation for unstably housed students and their families (Aviles de Bradley, 2015). The McKinney-Vento Act (1987) was created to ensure students experiencing housing instability are guaranteed their right to an education. Students and families experiencing housing instability demonstrate great strengths and resiliency as they work to secure stability and build community through social networks garnered within and outside of school spaces.

Methods/Results:
Countering deficit narratives of unstably housed students and families, in particular Latina/o/x and Black students, this paper illuminates the way they utilize their community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) to combat instability. This work will highlight three forms of capital unstably housed families utilize to combat negative characteristics often associated with their instability. This will include: (1) Familial Capital, one’s family/community history, bonds, memory, and cultural intuition, (2) Navigational Capital, specific skills one develops when navigating and negotiating social institutions such as school environments, food insecurity, health care/medical needs, child care, police, etc., and (3) Resistant Capital, knowledge and skills developed to survive and push back against oppression and white supremacy (Yosso, 2005). Utilizing case study, the author will highlight the ways in which families employ the various forms of capital.

Significance:
Identifying and highlighting the various forms of capital informs how schools can build capacity to serve as a site of stability for students and families experiencing housing instability, ameliorating the negative impact/effects of housing instability for Latina/o/x and Black students and families.

Author

• Ann M. Aviles, University of Delaware