Most eighteen year olds have a network of support to guide them into adulthood. However, most youth who age out of the foster care system find themselves without family, few emotional connections, no financial assistance, and prospects for self-sufficiency are dim at best. Foster youth lack the experience and knowledge to live on their own and are at high risk for dropping out of school, homelessness, unemployment, early parenthood, and crime.
Resources for these youth are inadequate, despite the implementation of the federal Foster Care Independence Act which which was intended to prepare foster children for independent living and expand benefits beyond their eighteenth birthday. Our experience with youth who were once in Casa Pacifica’s care “resurface” as young adults with extensive needs for an informal support network, ongoing preparation for household and financial management, as well as for professional help with both their emotional and physical well being.
With the generous support of a number of donors and private foundations we have taken aggressive steps to support these high risk young people through programs that strengthen educational opportunities, employment, housing options, health care, and personal and community relationships. We are working to help youth enter and remain in college, learn to seek and secure employment, provide stable housing, and encourage youth.
Vicki Murphy, Chief Advancement Officer & Director of Alumni Services
Phone: (805) 366-4010
E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The Coaching Independence in Transitional Youth (CITY) Program is a youth-driven program that focuses on helping youth and young adults develop essential living skills to successfully navigate and sustain independent living.
CITY is designed for youth who are or have been the responsibility of the public sector – foster care, probation, mental health – and who are between the ages of 16 and 25 years old. The program primarily serves Casa Pacifica alumni though it is expanding to serve more former foster youth who have not been enrolled in a Casa Pacifica program at some point. The CITY Program offers:
• Intensive Case Management
• Individual therapy
• In-vivo life coaching (in the moment)
• Youth Advocate support
• Peer-to-peer support
• Stepping Stone Program – House parent model housing
• Community Nests – Semi-independent living housing
• The Shire Apartments Living Independent living opportunities
CITY is based on and sensitive to the needs and aspirations of youth and young adults. The process begins with each youth creating an individual program during a life-planning session that focuses on their goals drawn from five life domains, which include:
• Employment and Career
• Education
• Living Situation
• Community Life Functioning
• Personal Effectiveness and Wellbeing
After the initial life-planning session, a CITY team member is assigned to the youth to assist with progress towards his/her life plan goals. Additional services, including therapy, are available to youth to support them in the attainment of those goals. Team meetings with the youth and CITY staff occur monthly, or more often as needed to monitor individual progress.
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For more information about the CITY Program contact:
Raymond Franco, Senior CITY Program Manager
Phone: (805) 366-4141
E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
