The mission of Know Before You Go is to empower youth to become their own advocates, armed with the knowledge and information they need to succeed in work, school and life. Know Before You Go breaks down complicated issues and helps youth tackle the barriers they face. This is a website dedicated to share information that will be helpful for…
Since 2009, Kids In The Spotlight (KITS) has created over 75 films with more than 500 youth from foster care, where they are given full agency to tell their stories, their way, by writing, casting & starring in their own short films. Each year culminates in our annual KITS Awards, celebrating their films and accomplishments in our version of the Academy Awards or…
Family Harvest Farm employs transition-age foster youth in a hands-on job-readiness program, teaching marketable skills and preparing them for life outside the foster care system. Volunteers work alongside our apprentices in an outdoor and collaborative setting. In addition to growing organic produce, the farm hosts educational workshops for the greater community.
JBAY improves the quality of life for youth in California who have been in foster care or homeless by advocating for better laws, training communities to strengthen local practices and conducting research to inform policy solutions.
In November 2000, Sycamores established the Transitional Independent Living Program to provide support for foster and probation youth emancipating from group or foster homes. This program is designed to satisfy a critical need for housing and supportive mental health services for youth as they make the transition from foster care placements to adulthood and independent living.
Monkey Business Café is a fully operational restaurant and catering enterprise that serves as a work experience/job training site for emancipating foster youth and other at-risk young people. At our social enterprise, young adults can establish a work history and gain marketable restaurant and business experience in the restaurant field.
Designed to complement Fred Finch housing programs, the transition programs provide vocational and educational connections, mental health support, and linkage to other community supports. Many of the youth accessing these services are former foster children, who bring with them histories of abuse, neglect, and complex emotional and physical health needs. With the development of the school-linked wellness center on site…
We believe that all young people in foster care have the potential to achieve long-term success in adulthood, and we envision a world where the disparities between them and the general population have been eliminated. First Place is a national leader in providing evidence-based direct support, increasing awareness, changing perceptions, and building a movement to make this vision a reality.
Since our inception in 1995, we have grown from a small auxiliary of the County’s Independent Living Skills Program to an independent nonprofit organization serving nearly 1,000 youth each year. B:E provides a range of supportive programs designed to help former foster and probation youth overcome their challenges, mitigate risks, and make healthy, successful transitions to adulthood and independent living.
The findings highlight the need for multidimensional models of risk and resilience and illustrate the importance of heretofore underappreciated heterogeneity in the adaptive outcomes of emancipated foster youth.