For the next few weeks, KALW News will be presenting stories from young people in Oakland, talking about their relationships with money. It’s part of a collaboration with the Oakland-based nonprofit Game Theory Academy, which works with low-income youth to improve their economic decision-making skills. Independent producer Lisa Morehouse worked with students at Game Theory Academy to record their experiences, in pieces we’re calling Money Diaries. In this segment we meet Caelin Robinson, who is 17 years old.
“I live with my mom, my auntie, my cousin, her sons, two of them, and her boyfriend kind of lives there,” Caelin Robinson says.
He lives in East Oakland, in the house his grandmother owned. When she died, different family members tried to keep it up. Recently, his mom, who works for the city of Oakland, has taken on the house as her responsibility.
“Taking over a house is a huge deal,” Robinson says. “It’s a lot of money, time, stress. I know, you can see it in her face.”
“My financial life is not the best, but 2014, I’ll be pretty much paid off – majority of my bills, so 2014 I should be pretty stable.”
Click the audio player above to hear the complete story.