First Place for Youth

FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH IS A CALIFORNIA NONPROFIT PUBLIC BENEFIT CORPORATION, WHICH WAS INCORPORATED ON JULY 20, 1999, TO PREVENT POVERTY AND HOMELESSNESS AMONG YOUTH WHO "AGE OUT" OF THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM BY PROVIDING THEM WITH THE RESOURCES AND SUPPORT REQUIRED TO MAKE A SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION TO INDEPENDENT LIVING. THE ORGANIZATION PROVIDES SERVICES TO YOUTH AGES 16 TO 25, INCLUDING YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE CURRENTLY IN FOSTER CARE, AS WELL AS THOSE PREPARING TO, OR WHO RECENTLY HAVE AGED OUT OF THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM. THE ORGANIZATION WORKS TO ENSURE YOUTH HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE A SAFE AND SUPPORTED TRANSITION THROUGH A HOUSING PROGRAM, INTENSIVE EMPLOYMENT SERVICES, AN ACADEMIC ENRICHMENT PROGRAM, COUNSELING, YOUTH COMMUNITY CENTER, COLLABORATION WITH OTHER BAY AREA AGENCIES, AND COMMUNITY EDUCATION, ENABLING YOUTH TO GAIN THE SKILLS TO LIVE INDEPENDENTLY AND SUCCEED ON THEIR OWN.

We believe that all young people in foster care have the potential to achieve long-term success in a

Goal One: Increase financial sustainability by proactively closing gaps in public funding, exploring revenue strategies for technical assistance, and strategizing to intentionally size our California footprint.

Goal Two: Increase infrastructure and organizational focus to expand influence and advocacy on policy change in California and articulate the national strategy.

Goal Three: Commit and advance principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion within our own organization and our work to transform into an equitable and anti-racist institution.

First Place has always believed in investing in the potential of its employees—this is one of the core competencies that guide our work. Professional development plans are integrated into our employee work plans and performance reviews, and the organization covers the cost of relevant trainings. We also leverage community partnerships where possible, such as Tipping Point Community’s Emerging Leaders Fellowship, in which we currently have an employee participating. One of our strategic pillars is to transform into an equitable and anti-racist organization. To this end, First Place is working to implement our own Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) Emerging Leaders Program, to support the retention and promotion of potential BIPOC leaders within the organization. This will include a mentoring program between the cohort and existing BIPOC leaders at First Place.

COVID-19 exacerbated the overwhelming barriers young people face when aging out of foster care—from accessing housing and healthcare to progressing in school and finding economic security—everything got even harder. As many as 60% of program participants were laid off, furloughed, had their hours cut, or otherwise had their employment negatively impacted as a result of COVID-19. One-hundred percent of youth’s education was affected, as most lacked the fundamental digital literacy skills and equipment that became pertinent to progress in school. This led to a huge pivot in our strategy to keep young people safely housed, financially stable amidst significant income loss, and also continue to support their educational progress and postsecondary readiness. First Place quickly and intentionally built out our education and employment support services to include a COVID strategy. Our ultimate goal is to support youth’s educational progress and postsecondary readiness, to ensure they are prepared to persevere through the long-lasting impacts of the pandemic. In addition to core programmatic services, staff have supported youth in securing essential items, provided digital literacy skills training, connected them to transitional employment, and creatively built community online. We are closely monitoring COVID’s continued impact on youth outcomes, and developing our education and employment strategy in step with our findings. Beyond our internal programming, we are working to ensure former foster youth are a target population in COVID-19 recovery nationwide by leveraging our research brief, Raising the Bar, a comprehensive summary of the strategic evidence-building work First Place has conducted over the past several years. Utilizing current data in combination with personal understanding of young people, we recommend a renewed education-to-employment focus, investments in extended care, individualized placement decisions, and extending the runway for those who need it.