Public sector collaboration to improve postsecondary outcomes for foster youth

In May, the OYC Foster Youth College Advancement Project (FYCAP) partners presented a session at the Collective Impact Forum in Chicago, titled “Driving Public Sector Systems Change: Lessons from Los Angeles County.” The session described the process that FYCAP co-conveners, John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY) and UNITE-LA, undertook in order to build buy-in from the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and to co-design College Bound Antelope Valley, a project that is training social workers to initiate college exploration and planning activities with middle and high school aged youth. FYCAP also supported DCFS in launching two new higher education courses this past April that will increase the capacity of Resource Parents to assist youth with college exploration and planning. To learn more about this new postsecondary education curriculum for caregivers, register for this webinar on June 5.

Further illustrating their deep commitment to increasing postsecondary attainment for foster youth, DCFS  launched two new higher education courses this past April that will increase the capacity of Resource Parents to assist youth with college exploration and planning. Developed in collaboration with DCFS, JBAY, UNITE-LA, and the local Foster and Kinship Care Education program, each course is approximately 3 hours in length and covers essential college planning steps, as well as resources that are available to assist youth in paying for and succeeding in college. DCFS requires that all Resource Parents with children in their care ages 12-19 complete at least one of these courses as part of the Resource Family Approval process.