Summer Housing for Foster Youth

By: Eric-Michael Wilson It all starts every year with a phone call in the midst of March. “What are your plans for the summer?” asks Deborah Lowe Martinez on the other end, checking to see which Cal Independent Scholars Network (CISN) participants she should be adding to the list for summer housing assistance. CISN provides former foster care youth and independent students at the University of California-Berkeley with housing, books, resources, and community year round, including in the summer time, depending on funds. But declines last year in both federal support for students and private donor funds earmarked for housing to CISN left former foster youth on campus struggling to pay for summer housing expenses. “One of my biggest concerns for each [of the students] every year is housing,” said Lowe Martinez, CISN program director. “Because we’re donor-funded, we’re constantly concerned about having enough resources for students.” Since it’s founding in Fall 2005, CISN has helped over 100 students with housing assistance. Ninety-eight percent of the freshman that start the program move on to their sophomore year. Of those who continue on, 100 percent of them graduate, said Lowe Martinez. This summer, CISN was able to assist students in the program with up to $1,000 with summer housing assistance, dependent upon student need in order to cover three months worth of living expenses. The supplementary assistance became even more important this past summer because the federal government halted summer Pell grants this year. Although students taking 6 or more units during the summer at UC Berkeley received fee grant waivers, they were only offered loans to cover summer tuition costs. As a result, some CISN students did have to rely on loans to supplement living expenses. “All of our students are here on financial aid and there’s no room to save for summer living expenses,” said Lowe Martinez, who mentioned that many students are already working multiple jobs to make ends meet throughout the year, while taking on full course loads. Martinez says some CISN students take classes just to get financial aid for the summer, so they can continue to receive housing support when all of the dorms are closed. “I would only want for every one of the participants [in the program] to have as much as my husband and I were able to provide for our kids when they were growing up,” said Lowe Martinez, who has helped two sons graduate from California universities. “No one should have to go without the support of a family.” Eric-Michael Wilson is a Media Intern with Fostering Media Connections.