The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has continued to exacerbate the barriers faced by many South Los Angeles foster youth. Connected with these ongoing needs, last year the LA County Department of Children and Family Services projected that an estimated 1,800 youth would age out of foster care by the end of 2021, due to pandemic relief that extended the period of care past their 21st birthdays. In response to this, SLATE-Z, led by the co-chairs of its Foster Youth Subcommittee, i.e., the Coalition for Responsible Community Development (CRCD), LA County Department for Children and Family Services (DCFS), and LA Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC), analyzed the unique, systemic barriers impacting South Los Angeles foster youth, hoping to create tailored solutions for our community. Over a six-month period, SLATE-Z brought together governmental entities, community-based organizations, consultants, and other parties to strategize ways to support the approximately 50 youth in foster care who were both connected to the SLATE-Z area and would be aging out of the system by the end of 2021.
After months of examining system wide approaches, SLATE-Z’s Foster Youth Subcommittee identified a very local solution: bringing together workforce development, housing, legal assistance, and other resources to South Los Angeles foster youth at a resource fair held on the campus of Los Angeles Trade Technical College (LATTC), which is the lead agency for the South Los Angeles Promise Zone that SLATE-Z manages.
Two of SLATE-Z's Foster Youth Subcommittee Co-Chairs: Kenta Estrada-Darley from the Coalition for Responsible Community Development and Jenny Serrano from LA County Department of Children and Family Services.
The event occurred shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday and was hosted in collaboration with NextUp and LATTC. Over the course of the day, SLATE-Z and its partners welcomed over 30 foster youth aged 16-25 to LATTC’s Downtown LA campus.
Participating service providers included Brotherhood Crusade, CRCD, Los Angeles Job Corps, Public Counsel, and the LA County Departments of Children and Family Services, Consumer Affairs, and Public Social Services. In addition to sharing connections for workforce development and other support, providers also distributed care packages, toiletries, and free laptops. To liven up the event, the resource fair included music, lunch, and a recurring raffle for a $25 VISA gift card from FYC, entry was available for youth who visited every table at the resource fair. This energetic in-person event took inspiration from DCFS’s “Transition conferences,” also known as “T-cons.” These T-cons are an annual resource event held by service providers, connecting youth in foster care to employment, workforce development trainings, and other opportunities, to prepare youth for transition out of care. These environments bring service providers face-to-face with youth in foster care, allowing providers the opportunity to deliver tailored advice and support, guiding youth towards the next steps for their professional and personal development. SLATE-Z's Foster Youth Subcommittee Co-Chair Jenny Serrano of DCFS stated that this personal, one-to-one engagement was an important feature to emulate when designing the 2021 Foster Youth Resource Fair, delivering the personal and focused attention needed for youth to feel supported and empowered to independently pursue next steps. The success of the Foster Youth Committee resource fair also helped to illuminate the outstanding needs of youth transitioning from service, helping to raise awareness around this issue, on a larger scale, to County partners.
For many of the organizations in attendance, the SLATE-Z and LATTC resource fair was their first in-person event since the start of the pandemic. SLATE-Z’s Foster Youth Subcommittee looks forward to providing a similar experience for youth in 2022, potentially expanding the concept to support an even broader demographic within South Los Angeles.