Safe Steps for Systems-Impacted Youth

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

East LA San Fernando Valley

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

Los Angeles County has one of the highest concentrations of foster and justice-involved youth in the nation—groups that are disproportionately targeted for exploitation, including sex and labor trafficking. Youth aging out of the foster care system or returning from juvenile detention often lack stable housing, trusted adults, and trauma-informed support, making them especially vulnerable. The failure to address root causes—such as trauma, disconnection from school or employment, and systemic racism—means many of these young people fall through the cracks. The urgency to intervene is now, especially for Black and Brown youth, LGBTQIA+ youth, and young women who are overrepresented among trafficking survivors.

RAD’s “Rooted Futures Project” is a trauma-informed initiative designed with and for systems-impacted youth ages 16–26, including those at high risk for or currently impacted by human trafficking. Operating from a drop-in center in South LA, the project integrates housing navigation, peer mentorship, occupational therapy, and life skills development. Unique to this program is a Youth Advisory Board made up of lived-experience youth who will co-design services, evaluate impact, and help train staff and partners. The program includes trafficking prevention workshops, survivor-informed healing circles, and employment pathways that decrease dependency on exploitative networks. Rooted Futures centers dignity, voice, and autonomy—offering a safe place to recover, build self-efficacy, and transition into long-term stability. The project will partner with local reentry and advocacy organizations to create a cross-referral network that ensures consistent support from street to stability.

The Rooted Futures Project will create a safe, trusted model for healing-centered support in South LA. Over one year, it will serve 150 youth, reducing rates of homelessness, recidivism, and trafficking among systems-impacted populations. By positioning young people as co-leaders through its advisory board, the program will shift how Los Angeles designs services for marginalized youth. In the long term, RAD will work with government and nonprofit partners to scale the model across other high-need regions, creating a blueprint for survivor-informed, youth-led systems transformation. The program’s success will be measured not only in outcomes, but in the empowerment of youth to become architects of their own future.