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Oakland, CA
I've been on the Board for one year now, and been a donor to First Place for more than five. I began supporting them because of my work with homeless adults and discovering that more than half of them had been part of the foster care system as children! At 18, foster youth lose all financial and empotional support from the State and are expected to be able to make it on their own - the reality is most don't even have their high school diplomas yet and many become homeless, teen parents, and/or involved in criminal activities. First Place provides the practical and caring support that many of us received from our parents to help these youth transition to adulthood and self-sufficiency. The staff are great champions for the youth, and the peer counselors help the young people to see that they really can change their lives. Although I'm impressed with the staff, program, and outcome measures, it is meeting the youth in the program that has inspired me most.
The Great!
- I've seen the results of this organization in... helping youth to obtain and maintain affordable housing - last year 92% of those served were able to do so! And 87% of youth were able to enroll in college or a trade school - while working and maintaining their households.
- The kinds of staff and volunteers that I met were... inspiring and dedicated and very comfortable with/attuned to the young people participating in the program.
- If this organization had 10 million bucks, it could... provide housing and support for thousands more foster youth across the State.
Ways to make it better!
- In my opinion, the biggest challenges facing this organization are... the number of youth in need across the state still far exceeds the number of housing units and amount of support services available. First Place has a great model and is successful in four counties in the Bay Area but their is a dearth of options for foster youth in many other counties.
- One thing I'd also say is that... First Place has been very successful at attracting government and foundation investors in its early years, but in order to thrive and help more kids, it needs to continue to reach out to indivual donors and provide opportunities for the whole community to support its work with emancipated foster youth.