Safe Housing for the Holidays and Beyond
Supporting The RightWay Foundation
My grandpa Lou was orphaned at 9. He bounced around homes, towns, and states. He watched a caregiver burn his clothes and everything he owned right in front of him. At various points he lived on a breezeway, ran away, was reunited with - and then dismissed by - relatives.
It wasn’t until he met a mentor, his rabbi, that he felt heard, safe, and guided. He took over the management and responsibilities of a scrapyard, he served and traveled in the military, he started a family, and he gave back to his communities.
When foster youth have a person and place they can count on, they can begin to pivot their energy from surviving towards thriving. This is one of the many reasons I passionately support The RightWay Foundation, and invite you to join me. (A donation link is always on my site.)
At the end of December, The County of Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services will officially emancipate 1,370 young adults from their program, leaving them with no support. These youth will lose their housing and a stipend during the pandemic and escalating homelessness crisis. If we don’t fix our child welfare system, the cycle of trauma and poverty will continue.
RightWay’s job training, mental health sessions, housing support, and overall community services work. I’ve witnessed it first-hand, and if you sign up for their newsletter and subscribe to their Instagram feed, you’ll see it too.
Give the Gift of Mental Health Support
Post Summary: This winter, be a part of giving transition-age foster youth a safe place to live, work, grow, and heal.
Unresolved trauma leaves former foster youth at a greater risk of experiencing substance abuse, unemployment, homelessness, incarceration, and poverty. For Giving Tuesday during this difficult year, please consider giving the gift of mental health support to help foster youth become the adults they deserve to be.
This week, I’m focusing on how contributions of varying sizes can give Youth from The RightWay Foundation the gift of access to professional mental health care.
Your donation of $35 can provide mental health care for one Youth for one day.
Your donation of $245 can provide mental health care for one Youth for one week.
Your donation of $980 can provide mental health care for one Youth for one month.
RightWay has been working towards securing safe, dedicated apartments for unhoused transition-age foster Youth in LA, while also providing them with mental health care, access to essential services, job placement, a supportive community, and trauma-informed training for employers.
Other giving options:
$32 provides one day of rent / $240 provides one week of rent / $960 provides one month of rent
$63 provides one week of food / $250 provides one month of food
$60 provides one month of Internet Connectivity
$50 provides one month of Health & Wellness Supplies
$200 provides one month of Home Essentials & Laundry
$100 provides one month of Heat, Gas, Water, and Electricity
$35 provides one day of mental health services / $195 provides one week of mental health services / $770 provides one month of mental health services
Giving Tuesday
My business is centered upon the art of making small and/or tricky spaces into long-term homes. But there are so many people in this world who have never had a steady home.
For years I’ve worked with The RightWay Foundation, which supports current or emancipated foster youth. The RightWay Foundation works with youth ages 18-24 because they are preparing to emancipate or have just "aged out" of the system. Many suffer the consequences of trauma from moving house to house or group home to group home in their childhood, lack the support they need to find a job and keep one, and are unable to secure housing after their housing from the County has now been cut off.
Many of Rightway’s foster youth are pushed into the world without enough resources to ensure their success. Once aging out, youth are facing the harsh realities of the general outcomes for foster youth in California and LA County. This is when they come to The RightWay Foundation.
The RightWay Foundation offers job training services, help with housing, therapy, job placement, financial literacy, career counseling, and education to the transitioning foster youth, and provides them with a welcoming and understanding support system.
Please consider supporting The Rightway Foundation and our wonderful foster youth this holiday season. Every donation helps.
Previous Rightway posts:
Above photos by Justina Blakeney, Whitney Leigh Morris, or The Rightway Foundation from various creative give-back partnerships over the years.