Propelling Foster Youth into Living-Wage Careers

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Los Angeles County is home to the nation’s most extensive foster care system, where 93% of former foster youth express a desire to graduate college. However, only 4% of foster youth attain a bachelor’s degree by age 26, compared to 50% of their non-foster peers.
Former foster youth often lag academically, struggle financially, lack familial support, have gaps in exposure to career pathways, and cope with the effects of trauma. As a result, these youth commonly face the worst outcomes among their peers: 50% will be unemployed or underemployed, 29% will be unable to pay rent, and 42% will be convicted of a crime. Only 3% of foster youth will graduate from a four-year university and be positioned for career-track jobs. Despite these grim statistics, our programming offers foster youth the opportunity to participate in the only California program focused on personal and professional success concurrent with college. 95% of foster youth we serve envision a bright future for the first time.

A grant from LA2050 will allow us to provide critical resources, relationships, opportunities and access to career track jobs for more college-going foster youth in Los Angeles County through our Career Accelerator Program.
Our holistic Career Accelerator Program, featuring a low advisor-to-student ratio of 1:30, significantly lower than the state average of 1:6,000, is our signature career and workforce development initiative that represents the majority of our organization’s work. It consists of five-components that provide students, who we call “Scholars”, with the resources, relationships and opportunities they need to be career ready upon graduation: 1:1 Coaching & Career Workshops: 15 hours/year of individual career and personal development coaching in which Scholars craft and work through a career action plan; monthly interactive career workshops and events
Network Building: Scholars access our network of 500+ professionals for career guidance and mentoring
Social, Emotional & Mental Health Support: Monthly community building and wellness events and a robust resource network to address mental health, housing, transportation, food, and other basic needs
Internship Placement: Students are placed in paid internships/helped to identify and apply for paid internships to help make them competitive job candidates upon college graduation Targeted Financial Support: All scholars receive an annual $5,000 basic needs scholarship and have access to emergency funding as needed

Our Scholars and alumni are rewriting the narrative for systems-impacted young adults then creating opportunities for connection and community. With over 300 diverse alumni who return to Ready To Succeed to serve as mentors and widen our network, they make a virtuous cycle to assist and uplift existing Scholars and other foster youth. As these young adults enter their careers, they become powerful advocates and voices for current foster youth, driving systemic change from within. Our alumni network serves as a pipeline into prestigious internships and entry-level, living wage-earning job opportunities for our existing scholars. With an LA2050 grant, we can continue expanding our community, creating opportunities for former foster youth and promoting more workplace equity. 

We track the following data and outcomes achieved by our Scholars:
# of coaching calls, informational interviews, professional connections
# of scholars enrolled in mental health counseling services
# of paid internships secured # of Scholarship dollars disbursed
We are proud to share the impressive results for the FY23 school year:
92% of RTS Scholars graduated college within 6 years. Nationwide, only 10% of foster youth enroll in college, and only 4% graduate. 94% of Scholars completed paid internships, in comparison to 31% of the general undergraduate population. Paid internships boost a Scholars’ likelihood of employment with 60% of paid internships nationwide turning into full-time jobs. 85% of Scholars secured strong, entry-level jobs within six months of graduation with an average salary of $50,900. This is six times that earned by most foster youth at age 21. 95% of Scholars state they can envision a bright future for the first time in their lives.