First Place for Youth

First Place will connect transition-age foster youth to high-quality careers through our Steps to Success program and “Earn and Learn” model, which provides an alternative to traditional AA/BA degrees while still gaining the fundamental skills needed to compete in a growing job market and advance towards earning living wages. The model addresses the systemic barriers that have often prevented foster youth from achieving economic mobility by supporting career exploration and developing self-efficacy towards educational and career goals.

First Place for Youth connects transition-age foster youth to high-quality careers that will improve their economic independence through our Steps to Success program and evidence-based Apprenticeship Model. Through strategic partnerships with industry leaders in high-growth sectors such as construction, healthcare, and information technology, First Place equips youth to enter the workforce with a competitive edge in the labor market, and the skillset needed to advance towards living-wage careers.?

First Place has launched an evidence-based Apprenticeship Model aimed at reducing the systemic barriers to living-wage employment for transition-age foster youth. Through strategic partnerships with industry leaders in high-growth sectors such as construction, healthcare, transportation and logistics, and information technology, First Place will assure foster youth enter the workforce with an increased competitive edge in the labor market, and the skillset needed to advance towards family-sustaining career pathways.

First Place for Youth provides at-risk foster youth, ages 18 to 24, with intensive education and employment support so that they can improve their lives and become self-sufficient.