NBC Bay Area: “The Moms of Magnolia Street” & “No Man’s Land: Fighting for Fatherhood in a Broken System”

When local news takes on seemingly entrenched and intractable social challenges facing some of the most precarious and vulnerable members of our communities, as NBC Bay Area News shows, the results can be inspired and inspiring. In two stories, focused on unhoused mothers and fathers, respectively, the news teams examine the complexity and reach of the housing crisis produced by ineffective public policy and predations of economic greed. “The Moms of Magnolia Street” reports on a group of unhoused mothers, from their decision to occupy an abandoned house in West Oakland, to their eviction by the county sheriff, and finally to collective action efforts that led to their partnership with the city of Oakland to purchase the home. Here, the news team devotes invaluable and persistent attention to the personal sacrifice, emotional strength, and determination of the mothers and their supporters. In “No Man’s Land: Fighting for Fatherhood in a Broken System,” the investigative team follows the lives of single men and their children as they navigate housing bureaucracies, sensitively challenging the stereotypes of single fathers, formerly incarcerated fathers, and Black fathers who abandon their children. In particular, we see how California regulatory policies and criminal justice rules prevent homeless shelters from providing temporary emergency housing to adult men and their children. We hear directly from the fathers whose commitment, love, and care for their children animates their fight to secure stable and affordable housing. The two stories together signify an unwavering commitment from NBC Bay Area to examine the depths of housing insecurity, showing us the power of ordinary families in their struggle for social change and better lives for their children. For this, NBC Bay Area earns a Peabody Award.