OUR HONOREES

OUR STORY

In 1998, two graduate students were struck by how many young people who grew up in foster care faced intense challenges after aging out of care, including poverty and homelessness.

With a small grant in hand, they were inspired to help break the cycle of poverty for these vulnerable youth and launched First Place for Youth, the first organization in Northern California exclusively dedicated to addressing the lack of affordable housing and resources for foster youth who had exited foster care. Since that time, our programs have served more than 10,000 young people between the ages of 16-25 in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and six other states around the country.

Our mission is to help foster youth build the skills they need to make a successful transition to self- sufficiency and responsible adulthood. We provide safe, stable housing, paired with intensive case management to build crucial life-skills and emotional wellbeing. Our individualized education and employment counseling are the core of our program, ensuring that young people have a clear path to succeed in school and build job readiness skills qualifying them for living-wage positions.