Snapshot: All In - Ready for Launchpads
For years, foster youth in California faced a cliff on their 18th birthday. On this date, access to critical services would disappear, leaving youth to navigate complex systems with little-to-no support. With AB 12, California lawmakers established Extended Foster Care (EFC), a program that provides youth ages 18-21 with continued support and monthly subsidies for rent, groceries, tuition and other necessities.
Securing stable housing is a key aspect of independence, but high housing costs and limited supply make it one of the most challenging hurdles EFC youth face as they transition to adulthood. Even when youth have supplemental income to ensure they can afford rent, many property managers favor tenants that they perceive as posing less of a risk or having “fewer strings attached.” Over 200 young people are currently enrolled in EFC in San Francisco, but nearly 30% of them experience homelessness or housing instability because they can’t find a safe place to live. Half of all foster youth in California experience homelessness at some point in their lives, and 50% of people experiencing chronic homelessness in San Francisco first experienced homelessness before age 25.
In partnership with San Francisco’s Department of Family and Children Services, Tipping Point engaged Freedom Forward to develop a program to pair youth in EFC with housing. The City provides child welfare services focused on the safety, permanency, and well-being of children, youth, and families, and Freedom Forward works to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of youth and ensure that those who’ve experienced it have opportunities to thrive. Through their combined efforts, Launchpads emerged.
Hosts with vacant rooms in their home can match with eligible young adults in EFC, and those young people can search for housing in a safe, dedicated marketplace that also provides information about other benefits, including support with move-in costs such as security deposits and furniture. Launchpads also makes it easier for social workers from the Department of Family and Children’s Service supporting EFC youth to do what they do best. Social workers are the connective tissue between youth and hosts, resolving any challenges that arise and working with youth on their education and employment goals which, in turn, keep youth eligible for extended foster care.
Freedom Forward brings expertise creating programs for foster youth to the design of the platform and offline supports, and will administer Launchpads as the marketplace grows. Launchpads invites Bay Area adults interested in testing the platform and hosting youth to visit the site to learn more!
