Pay-it-Forward-Alumni Empowerment Program for Former Foster Youth

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

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

Each year, approximately 23,000 youth age out of foster care in America–1,500 of these youth are in L.A. County, which has one of the highest costs of living in the country. “Aging out” means that a youth will no longer have their needs met by the state and must quickly become self-sufficient: identify and maintain housing, find a job, and manage their own finances. Put simply, they must rapidly learn to become adults with few, if any, support on which to lean. As a result, their outlook is bleak. Within 18 months of emancipation, about half will become homeless and one-quarter will be incarcerated.
ASOH’s programs provide an innovative solution. No other organization provides critical support every step of the way for transition-age foster youth to secure, fully furnish, and maintain supportive housing through Home Creations, peer mentorship, and ongoing connections to comprehensive resources–targeted support to maintain housing and ensure their long-term stability.

ASOH’s community-based model begins by helping foster youth nearing emancipation and TAY obtain vouchers and housing. Then our team of volunteers, staff, and youth “alumni'' transform empty living spaces into fully functional, emotionally stabilizing homes through our Home Creations. Over 330 customized items (appliances, furniture, and homewares) are uniquely selected and installed for each youth in a 90-minute volunteer experience. As leading experts in the field of working with former foster youth, we have found that the key to ensuring housing retention and preventing future homelessness for former foster youth is ongoing engagement and connection to comprehensive resources and a supportive community of peers with lived experience. Our goal is to expand our recently launched “Pay it Forward Alumni” community and increase engagement by providing program alumni with a variety of benefits including access to exclusive events and household goods and gift giveaways, more professional development, networking, leadership, and advocacy opportunities through on-site community resource fairs and workshops, and, most importantly, connection to community. We also have been working toward making our programs more accessible by providing alumni with transportation stipends and creating more opportunities for our PIFA and other community members to volunteer at Home Creations at no cost, which will ultimately encourage peer mentorship and add more diversity to our volunteer base.

ASOH exclusively serves youth in the time leading up to their emancipation and who are aging out of the foster care system (most are 18-24 years old, but we have a no “aged-out” policy), and 87% of youth served have either experienced homelessness, or are currently homeless when they first connect with ASOH. By welcoming former foster youth into a stable community of resilient peers, successful adults/potential employers and service providers, we provide them with critical support that ensures housing retention and prevents future homelessness for former foster youth. ASOH’s transformational program gives youth a chance to set roots in a community that offers them the most important platform they need to thrive: stable housing and a supportive community. Filling an essential role in the housing and foster care sectors, ASOH has created 950+ homes thanks to 21,900 volunteers since inception and has served as the after-foster care community for 2,000+ young people and their families.

Our services are only successful if the homes we create result in the long-term tenancy, health, and well-being of our recipients. Gathering both quantitative and qualitative data, we keep in close touch with home recipients and alumni and track progress toward their educational and vocational goals, in addition to home retention and administer pre- and post-questionnaires.
We have recognized the need to increase our data tracking, program evaluation, and impact assessment capacity to ensure we are making the greatest impact. Our Director of Programs is working with our Community Resource Navigator to: 1. Establish a schedule to conduct regular check-in surveys to assess participants’ and our PIFA community members’ progress and program success (post Home Creation surveys, 6-month and 1-year surveys, and annual alumni surveys); and 2. Collect more comprehensive data to improve care coordination and connect alumni to targeted basic needs and comprehensive resources.