Partner Spotlight: The RightWay Foundation
To serve foster youth aging out of the system, the Mayor’s Fund launched our Transition Age Youth Program. Our newest partner is The RightWay Foundation. Working with the Children’s Law Center of California, they help make sure the 20-year-olds who age out of foster care in Los Angeles are provided access to the services, employment opportunities and stable housing they desperately need.
Many of RightWay’s trained caseworkers were in the foster care system themselves, so they know the challenges these young people are struggling to overcome. Hear Annissa and Juan tell their stories in their own words.
For 13 years, RightWay has served Los Angeles County foster youth. Its core program, Operation Emancipation, begins with a trauma-informed, healing-centered employment readiness program. Once current and former foster youth complete the program, they gain access to the wide array of other services RightWay offers. These programs include:
- Help finding safe housing, including paying the security deposit for an apartment and subsidizing 50% of each month’s rent
- Financial coaching, to help youth manage their money
- One-on-one therapy sessions and other mental health support
- Assistance for justice-impacted youth to help them with re-entry
- Career-counseling and training, including assistance enrolling in higher education and apprenticeship programs
- Support services for young parents, including parenting positivity training, to help them break the cycle of trauma
RightWay has an impressive track record of success, with more than 75% of the youth they serve finding and maintaining employment, more than 80% reporting improved mental health, and more than a third enrolling in college.
Learn more about our work with Foster Youth: www.mayorsfundla.org/wala-children-and-youth/