Make a difference in a child’s life this Back To School season

Do you remember the excitement of going back to school after a long summer? Excited to see old friends and familiar faces. For some children going back to school is not as exciting. Imagine sharing a cramped two-bedroom apartment. Overcrowded with nowhere to go, nowhere to have a space of your own. Imagine moving several times in one year – to different schools. This is the unfortunate reality for so many children in Hillsborough County whose families struggle with stable affordable housing. Frequent moving and living in substandard conditions has shown to have a direct impact on children’s long-term development and success in school.

“The chronic relocating meant uprooting life in one environment to have to adjust to another new situation. For my child, that meant having to change schools, leave old friends behind and having to make new ones. Over and over again. It has a terribly destabilizing effect on a young girl.” – Cori Mott, Habitat Homeowner.

Affordable, safe and stable housing is one of the most important building blocks for a child’s foundation. Growing up in a decent home can have a powerful effect on children and has a direct correlation to their long-term success in life. The high school graduation rate for children of homeowners is 19 percent higher than for renters, these children are also twice as likely to acquire postsecondary education (Benefits of Homeownership Research Summary Habitat International).

Children whose families are forced to move frequently in search of better, more affordable living situations often struggle in school. And parents paying too much for a place to live too often must deplete financial resources that otherwise could be invested in their children’s health, education and futures.

Habitat Hillsborough’s mission is to partner with families to help provide them the opportunity to have stable and affordable housing, through homeownership. Your donation can directly impact a child’s future by helping to provide stable housing for their families. Please consider making a gift today online or through the return envelope provided. Stable housing helps to break the cycle of generational poverty and increase a child’s chance for a brighter future!

Thank you!

All of us at Habitat for Humanity of Hillsborough County