David Ambroz
Head of Community Engagement (West) for Amazon and Author
Brandon Nichols
Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services
A Place Called Home: A Memoir of Deprivation and Hope
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of A Place Called Home from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Ambroz that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
There are millions of children in America today dealing with housing insecurity and in A Place Called Home, award-winning child welfare advocate David Ambroz writes about growing up unhoused in New York for eleven years and his subsequent years in foster care, offering a window into what so many kids living in poverty experience every day. When Ambroz and his siblings should be in elementary school, they are instead walking the streets seeking shelter while their mother is battling mental illness. They rest in train stations, 24-hour diners, anywhere that’s warm and dry; they bathe in public restrooms and steal food to quell their hunger.
When Ambroz is placed in foster care, at first it feels like salvation but soon proves to be just as unsafe. He’s moved from home to home and, in all but one placement, he’s abused. His burgeoning homosexuality makes him an easy target for other’s cruelty. He finds hope and opportunities in libraries, schools, and the occasional kind-hearted adult; he harnesses an inner grit to escape the all-too-familiar outcome for a kid like him. Through hard work and unwavering resolve, he receives a scholarship to Vassar College, his first significant step out of poverty.
Ambroz later graduated from UCLA School of Law, and currently serves as the Head of Community Engagement (West) for Amazon. Previously, he led corporate social responsibility for Walt Disney Television, and served as the president of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission and as a member of the California Child Welfare Council.
Ambroz will be in conversation with Brandon Nichols, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on our website and YouTube channel.
Event Sponsors
- Beacon Academy
- Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School
- Catherine Cook School
- Chicago Jewish Day School
- Compass Health Center
- Connections for the Homeless
- Countryside Day School
- Evanston Scholars
- Evanston Township High School D202
- Family Service Center
- Family Service of Glencoe
- Foundation 65
- Francis W. Parker School
- Glencoe D35
- Gorton Center
- Haven Youth and Family Services
- Hyde Park Day School
- Kenilworth D38
- Lake Bluff D65
- Lake Forest Academy
- Lake Forest Country Day School
- Lake Michigan Association of Independent Schools
- Latin School of Chicago
- Leo Catholic High School
- Loyola Academy
- Magnetar Capital
- Mindful Psychology Associates PC
- Morgan Park Academy
- New Trier High School D203
- New Trier Parents’ Association
- North Shore Country Day
- Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy
- Pope John XXIII School
- Rebel Human
- Regina Dominican College Preparatory High School
- Resurrection College Prep High School
- Rogers Park Montessori School
- Roycemore School
- Santa Clara University School of Law
- Science & Arts Academy
- Stevenson High School D125
- The Alliance for Early Childhood
- The Avery Coonley School
- The Cove School
- The Family Institute at Northwestern University
- The Frances Xavier Warde School
- University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
- Winnetka D36
- Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District
- Wintrust Bank
- Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart
- Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.)
Upcoming Events
The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions
Michael Norton, Ph.D.
Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Sam Sommers, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Racial Equity and Diversity Lab at Tufts University
ON ZOOM
