Enhancing Career Pathways for Transition-Age Foster Youth

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

While in foster care, youth are moved from one foster home to another and from one school to another, and these repeated displacements interrupt their educational progress and limit the ability to build skills for living independently. Foster youth encounter barriers to success including dropping out of school, unemployment, early pregnancy, and incarceration, and given that 50% experience homelessness after leaving care, it is clear that providing temporary shelter without support to develop skills for long-term independence does not solve chronic poverty for this population. A rapidly changing economic environment makes addressing these disparities and providing pathways to a living-wage particularly urgent. Lower-skill jobs that don’t require a post-secondary degree or credential have shifted with increasing automation, and by 2024 nearly half of all job openings will be middle-skill jobs which require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree.

First Place’s Steps to Success Education & Employment Program supports foster youth with career-focused programming to help them gain the fundamental skills needed to compete in a growing job market and realize long-term self-sufficiency. The program addresses the systemic barriers that have often prevented foster youth from achieving meaningful economic mobility. After first stabilizing youth with safe housing, they are paired with an Education & Employment Specialist and Social Worker to develop personalized career goals and receive support in earning their high school diploma, enrolling in and navigating postsecondary education, and building job readiness skills such as resume creation and job interview techniques. First Place recognizes that in today’s changing economic climate we must refine our program model to ensure we are preparing young people to move beyond their first jobs and succeed in living-wage careers, and therefore have introduced the evidence-based Earn and Learn Model which serves as an alternative option to the traditional AA/BA postsecondary education. The model connects youth with opportunities in high growth career sectors and promotes youth progress through on-the-job-training, career-focused education, industry-recognized credentials, and employment skills. 

Los Angeles County is home to one-third of California’s foster youth – our ultimate vision for these young people is to have equitable access to an ecosystem of education, employment, healthy living, and housing opportunities necessary for transitioning into thriving, independent adults. Individualized support solutions provided through Steps to Success, which includes comprehensive education and employment services, have proven to significantly alter the trajectory of a young person’s life by providing the resources and relationships to become self-sufficient. This intentional approach aims to prepare youth for the workforce, increase youth’s competitiveness in the labor market, and progress towards living-wage job opportunities. The program ensures youth receive the necessary training to be competitive in the job market while connecting them to opportunities to earn a living-wage. 

First Place prioritizes data-informed decision making to ensure our programming is effective in helping youth achieve positive outcomes around education and employment. Our approach is grounded in measuring impact, not simply services provided. Maintained by our Evaluation + Learning team, our customized performance management tools enable us to evaluate the efficacy of specific interventions, determine the best approach for each youth, and make real-time improvements to our programs. Our data-tracking systemprovides up-to-date information including demographics, service counts, service outcomes, and community impact. Last year in Los Angeles County, we served 215 young people who achieved the following positive outcomes: 96% of youth exited into safe and stable housing; 95% of youth who did not have a high school diploma received theirs or made significant progress towards this goal; 76% of youth successfully enrolled in postsecondary education; 76% of youth obtained employment.