We need your help! Can one black dress for five short days create awareness about issues that affect others for a lifetime? Advocates wear one black dress for five consecutive days in an effort to spark conversations and awareness about local foster youth, and related issues. JLLA’s Little Black Dress Initiative raises awareness about the unique challenges facing foster youth and raises funds for our projects and programs that support children aging out of the foster care system. As part of this initiative, I have committed to wearing a little black dress from September 26 to 29 to raise funds to support the Junior League of Los Angeles’s projects and programs that positively impact hundreds of foster youths each year.

Each year, 30,000 children are in foster care in Los Angeles County. They have been removed from their homes and placed in foster care because a court has determined that it isn’t safe for the child to remain at home due to evidence or risk of abuse, neglect, or abandonment. This is why the Junior League of Los Angeles creates projects and programs to support foster youth.

In foster care, children will move from placement to placement, staying with grandparents, relatives, friends, or foster parents until their case is resolved or they are adopted. Nearly 3/4 of all foster youth have spent two or more years in the foster care system, with 40% having five or more foster care placements. The frequent disruptions and lack of support do not set them up for success through their adolescence and into adulthood. This is one reason why the Junior League of Los Angeles works with Happy Trails for Kids to create programs that support these children. 

By the time they turn 18 or 21, if they choose to stay in extended foster care, foster youth who have aged out of the system face many challenges in their transition to self-sufficiency: 

• 38% of California's foster youth currently reside in LA County.
• 33% of girls become pregnant at least once by age 17, and 75% by age 21. This is one reason why the Junior League of Los Angeles creates projects and programs to help educate foster youth on topics such as safe sex practices, stress management, money management, building a resume, and interviewing skills.
• 75% of students in foster care are performing below grade level.
• Less than 50% of youth graduate from high school, and only 3% graduate from college. This is one reason why the Junior League of Los Angeles creates projects and programs to help support these foster children as they transition into adulthood and helps provide resources for those seeking higher education.
• At age 19, 60% of former foster youth are unemployed.
• 50% of those who age out end up homeless or incarcerated. This is why the Junior League of Los Angeles creates projects and programs with Covenant House to help prevent this outcome by educating transition-age foster youth on topics that can help them prepare for independence.

Rising to the Occasion

In 2013, funding was eliminated for integral mentoring and life-skills training programs that supported hundreds of youths in Los Angeles County as they aged out of the foster care system. JLLA responded to this service gap in the following key ways:

1.  Development of a direct service project with the Alliance for Children's Rights (Alliance). JLLA partnered with the Alliance, a non-profit legal services and advocacy organization that works to protect the rights of impoverished, abused, and neglected children in Los Angeles County. Each year, JLLA’s project serves 40-50 young women ages 14-21 that are currently in or were once in foster care. The project provides life skills classes for youth transitioning out of care. Topics are identified in partnership with the youth and have included interviewing skills, building a resume, money management, safe sex practices, and stress management.

2.  Development of a direct service project with United Friends of the Children (UFC). UFC is a non-profit dedicated to the premise that foster youth deserve successful adulthood. Through their Housing and Education programs, UFC supports foster youth in their efforts to graduate from high school and college, get a job, find housing, and transition towards independence. JLLA’s project serves approximately 50-60 high-school-aged youth each year through a self-esteem and empowerment program focused on their transition out of care and into higher education. Monthly, JLLA members facilitate workshops on topics including career development, self-advocacy, stress management, and financial literacy.

3.  Done in a Day. Last year, JLLA committed over 450 volunteer hours to serve eight agencies committed to addressing and advancing issues impacting foster youth. Partners included Foster Care Counts, United Friends of the Children, and Happy Trails with service projects such as partnering with the Department of Children and Family Services to lead workshops on job skills for students, including resumes, cover letters, interview attire, and mock interviews.

4.  Policy and Advocacy. For 25 years, JLLA’s policy programs have focused on shifting paradigms through training, engagement, and coalition building. Through a signature program, Civic Leadership Forum, JLLA has trained over 1,400 community members on a variety of key issues impacting foster youth in Los Angeles. Topics have included human trafficking, barriers to higher education, and parenting.