Lived experience drives systemic change and policy.

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

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

In Los Angeles County, systems-impacted and foster youth face disproportionate discipline, school pushout, and barriers to college and career access. A recent report found that half of foster youth in Los Angeles County have experienced four or more adverse childhood experiences. These youth graduate at lower rates and experience significantly higher rates of chronic absenteeism and juvenile justice involvement.
These inequities are compounded by systemic disinvestment and limited leadership pathways. Los Angeles County allocates over $570 million annually to juvenile facilities, despite persistent concerns about conditions and effectiveness. Foster and systems-impacted youth are often excluded from the narratives that shape public perception and policy. CDF-CA supports shifting resources toward prevention and education and providing tools that uplift youth voice and community power.

Launched in 2025 with support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Radical Imagination Fellowship uplifts foster and transition-age youth as narrative and civic leaders. This next phase expands to include systems-impacted youth, building on shared experiences and CDF–CA’s expertise in youth justice. Fellows will draw on their lived experience to lead storytelling activities, influence policy, and drive advocacy rooted in equity and justice.
This phase embeds youth leadership across CDF–CA’s programs. Fellows will support storytelling, policy analysis, and movement-building with coalition partners, including collaboration with Children Defense Fund’s (CDF) Freedom Schools®, a national initiative rooted in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer that promotes literacy, cultural identity, and civic action. CDF-CA Freedom Schools® serve close to a thousand students annually across eight Los Angeles County organizations and communities.
Fellows will also help advance the Education Justice Coalition (EJC) Report, a youth and community informed policy tool co-developed by CDF–CA to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline and expand access to healing-centered education. They will champion its recommendations through policy meetings, decision-maker engagement, and public awareness efforts.
In addition, fellows will conduct focus groups with foster and systems-impacted youth, analyze findings, and co-author policy recommendations to inform advocacy and systems change.

CDF-CA envisions a Los Angeles County where youth voices shape policy, inspire campaigns, and build cross-sector collaboration. Success includes increased foster and systems-youth participation in public decision-making, and stronger networks among CDF Freedom Schools®, community organizations, and caregivers. Through multimedia, public events, and coalition engagement, youth will advance community-rooted solutions through campaigns, partnerships, and public engagement.
Long-term, CDF–CA will scale this work by growing new cohorts of systems-impacted and foster youth and connecting them more deeply to other components of CDF's National movement-building framework, such as CDF Freedom Schools® and related programs. These youth will help drive regional campaigns, shape public policy, and support the transformation of how Los Angeles County systems understand and respond to young people with lived experience.