College Now Dual Enrollment Access for Foster Youth

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

The foster care system was designed to save the lives of children, but in the process of doing so often destroys them. Foster youth face a multitude of barriers and virtually all have complex trauma histories. The foster care system itself creates educational obstacles, including frequent foster home placement changes, frequent transfers between schools and districts, lost or misplaced records, and lack of assistance navigating the education system. All of these prevent foster youth from experiencing educational equity. CYFC must prepare its participants for life after-emancipation, which comes at them quickly and unforgivingly. Nationally, the number of foster youth who attain a bachelor’s degree is dismal at between 2-10%, even though 84% of foster youth want to go to college. Ninety percent of CYFC's participating seniors graduate from high school, 80% are accepted into post-secondary education, and our college persistence rates for the past two years are 97% and 86% respectively.

The College Now PPP partnership will create a navigable pathway for foster youth into the community colleges where the majority will attend following high school graduation. An initial cohort of 60 foster youth each from Pomona and Los Angeles schools with high populations of foster youth have already been selected to participate and will be beginning classes this fall. Project funding will help to codify the protocols and materials developed for outreach, enrollment and orientation. CYFC will provide educational case management to support enrollment and the selection of classes, as well as dedicated tutoring, mentoring and social-emotional support to ensure that students pass their college classes. The PPP will work to create a network of resources to support foster youth in D-E and post-secondary education, including mentors and an emergency fund to support their ability to complete a college degree.
The first year of College Now will involve launching program services, convening PPP leaders, securing funds for an Emergency Fund and recruiting mentors. Subsequent years will see expansion to even more students.
While most foster youth Dual Enrollment programs cherry-pick the students most likely to succeed, the most vulnterable populations, including foster and BIPOC students are too often left out. CYFC serves an almost exclusively BIPOC population of foster youth who deserve access to an opportunity to get a head start on college at no cost and while still in high school

If this work is successful, LA2050 funding helped to create a model that changed the higher educational trajectory of foster youth that was replicated in other school districts throughout the county. Foster youth now have the same access to educational opportunities as children from intact families. The dismal high school and college graduation rates of foster youth have been eradicated. Dual Enrollment has been recognized a key strategy for attaining higher education and education equity has been achieved. Foster youth are no longer doomed to poor transition outcomes and achieve their college and career dreams..

CYFC is measuring impact by: the number of foster youth graduating from high school; the number of foster youth who are taking and passing Dual-Enrollment courses with a "C" or better; the number of students who are on-track to graduate with an AA degree; the number of foster youth who transfer to a four-year institution from a community college; and the number of foster youth who are CSU-eligible. CYFC collects vast student data in a proprietary student information management system.
We define success as providing a clear pathway to obtaining an Associates and Bachelor's Degree, with an intentional coordination of supports from every system involved in that child's life, including DCFS, K-12 school districts, their attorneys, guardians, higher education systems and CBO's.