Workforce Development

The Fair Futures coaching program for foster youth is expanding to serve young people involved in New York City’s  justice system. 

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved recommendations aimed at knocking down barriers to transition age foster youth access to job training.

Champions for a less punitive juvenile justice system in Los Angeles had high hopes for a pilot project that would transform an old juvenile detention camp into a voluntary vocational center for older youth.

  Over the next month, Los Angeles County will roll out an electronic system that supporters say will make it easier for youth in foster care to enroll in programs in the county’s workforce system.

  A new California workforce program that has offered transition-age foster youth paid service work as part of the state’s AmeriCorps program has already garnered national recognition. Last week, iFoster, the Truckee, California, nonprofit that helped develop the Transition-Age Youth (TAY) AmeriCorps program, was recognized with the “Best New AmeriCorps Program” award from the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that administers AmeriCorps.

With an afternoon on the red carpet, being photographed and interviewed about their work, and the chance to see their original films on the big screen, the Real to Reel Film Festival marks the end of a unique training opportunity for former foster youth.

A group of foundations and other grant makers are backing a small investment in one of the Trump administration’s favorite workforce ventures: apprenticeships. The Ballmer Group, Annie E. Casey Foundation and several other funders will back a $1 million grant to connect young people to career training opportunities. 

Many nonprofit organizations and agencies across the country are thinking about the best way to increase employment opportunities and support to foster youth. Counter-narratives are beginning to disrupt the assumptions and stereotypes that exist about foster youth.

Internships can often serve as an important leg up for young people trying to gain work experience and build relationships with employers. But few foster youth participate in such opportunities. A recent study of California foster youth at age 21 found that only 30 percent had completed an internship, apprenticeship or other on-the-job training in the past year.