No Mans Land

In “No Man’s Land,” NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit uncovers systemic barriers putting families, like Mike and Dani, in danger by denying basic services to single fathers. Our team holds public officials accountable for a complex web of anti-male biases, racism and outdated rules that often shut these fathers out of housing, child care and even emergency shelter.

Our new digital-exclusive series “No Man’s Land” is out now. Here’s Digital Correspondent Abbey Fernández and Investigative Reporter Candice Nguyen with an episode breakdown of the 5-part series.

NBC Bay Area’s digital investigative series NO MAN’S LAND exposes a broken system that denies single fathers basic services. During the 10-month investigation, the Investigative Unit tracked the agencies and resources that help single fathers and struggling parents keep their families together.  A growing number of low-income single fathers are often denied basic services. “Why is it that I...

Just as Mike’s baby is born, the mother is showing signs of delusional schizophrenia. When her destructive episodes escalate, she’s incarcerated and Mike and his baby daughter, Dani, are evicted from their apartment. Unable to work and care for his infant at the same time, Mike loses his job. He and Dani are suddenly homeless. Desperate for a safe...

On top of losing his job and home, Mike has to raise his baby daughter on his own. After homeless shelters reject him because he has a child, he gets a surprising phone call with an offer to help.

Sitting in jail, not knowing where his kids are, Brandon hits rock bottom. When he resolves to get clean and be a father, no one will rent him an apartment. NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit exposes the housing program that keeps people like Brandon out on the streets.

A decades-old crime can bar someone from housing, even if they are reformed, gainfully employed and a father with children depending on him. NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit confronts one city official about a housing program that calls people with criminal pasts “weeds” and “two-legged predators” that need to be eliminated.

As Mike and John hang on by a thread, a child care crisis and the pandemic threaten to drive the single fathers back to the streets. NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit exposes social stigmas that make it harder for single dads to get essential services.

Single dads meet to talk about the “absent black father” myth and its damaging effects. One university study finds most children’s books about African-American families perpetuate the stigma.

Investigative reporter Candice Nguyen reveals how a chance meeting with a struggling single father awakened her own childhood memories and led her on a ten-month journey creating NO MAN’S LAND.