This grant will help pay for furniture, equipment, and salaries plus benefits for the program director and resident assistant at a new residential facility for youth leaving foster care.
About 50 youth age out of the county’s foster care system each year. These young people are vulnerable to homelessness, unemployment, mental health challenges, substance abuse, and human trafficking. Only 3% will earn a college degree within four years of leaving foster care.
The Youth and Family Services (YFS) branch of the Channel Islands YMCA is opening a new residential facility to provide nine former foster youth at a time with housing, basic needs, counseling, intensive case management, and a plan for obtaining education and employment. The expectation is that while in the program the young people will find a job, enroll in school, or participate in a certificate program; and upon exiting, they will have found permanent housing and be fully employed, enrolled in college, or pursuing a work certificate.
