Inspirational Stories of Youth

One challenge of being Hillsides CEO is setting time aside for direct interaction with those we serve in spite of numerous commitments. The other day I had the opportunity to visit Youth Moving On (YMO) and met with a handful of residents. I was inspired by their efforts to move beyond the challenges they face to a path that leads them to success.

A young woman, who has been at YMO only a few months, talked about how YMO is the next step for her on a journey away from gang involvement to pursue education, employment, and permanent housing. Articulate, self-aware, and resolute, she inspired me not just by her accomplishments, but especially her dream to develop a way to protect children from sex trafficking.

As I sat there visiting, a young man, a long-time resident of YMO, came in excited about having successfully passed his EMT exam. This allows him to realize a long-held dream of entering the medical field. No one would have thought that possible just a few years ago, when he was released from the juvenile detention system and sought out the services offered at YMO. But his hard work and conviction has served him well and today he is on his way.

And finally, there was another young man who had just returned from purchasing his first suit to wear to our annual donor appreciation gathering this Thursday. There he will share his story of how hard work and sacrifice has helped him begin to build the financial foundation for his independence.

Each one of them is inspirational more so because the obstacles are so great in such a challenging economic environment. Their stories prove dreams, matched with hard work and supported by a dedicated community, can make what some would consider impossible achievable.

How appropriate that their success will be shared with our donor community. Were it not for the extraordinary generosity of our donors, little of what we accomplish would be possible.

"Job" Well Done For YMO Residents and Employers

As many of you know, Hillsides sponsors a very innovative program of services for youth transitioning from the foster care system to independence called Youth Moving On. The services provided include supportive housing, counseling, educational orientation, job readiness and financial literacy.

When YMO was started several years ago I believe that one of the tenets of the program was to encourage the participating youth to pursue an educational program, whether vocational training or enrollment at the local community college. Our experience, however, has taught us that as important as education is as a fundamental component to long-term success, employment is the decisive factor to achieve independence.

So through the generous support of the Deutsch Foundation, Hillsides and a number of other providers of services to this population have set out to develop a curriculum. The curriculum aims to lead these young adults through a process that enhances their ability to secure employment and begin to establish the foundation of financial independence.

This past Sunday 60 Minutes aired a segment featuring a very innovative employment program that not only trains the unemployed, but also places them in jobs and pays them during an initial employment period. This mitigates the cost to employers who accept participants as interns. The end result is a dramatic increase in full-time employment. This program sounded very familiar to me because it is exactly what we do with the YMO residents that participate in our job readiness program.

Villa Sorriso in Pasadena

For the past several months we have paid the salary of a YMO resident who interned at a local restaurant. The restaurant provided this young man with professional training and a supportive environment and slowly, but surely he acquired skills and confidence. As the internship drew to a close, the young man applied for a position at the establishment and we got news yesterday that he has been hired as a full-time employee.

A4

This young man is just the most recent example of the success of this effort. To all the young adults who have persevered through these internships and have been rewarded with not just employment, but equally as important, confidence and hope, congratulations! And, of course, to the employers who partner with us to make this innovative program possible, especially Karen Tanji of Villa Sorriso and Mark Mertens of A4, thank you for believing in these young people.

One youth at a time, in spite of the challenges, YMO and Hillsides make the extra effort to help all we serve achieve their dreams with milestones like employment.

Homeless Youth Step into Affordable Housing

More than 5,000 youth, when they turn 18, emancipate or “age out” of California’s foster care system, and nearly 1,000 youth exit care each year in Los Angeles. They lose access to all state-funded foster care services and, for the most part, also lose connections to adult support received while in the foster care system. Research has indicated that without housing, education or emotional support, 65 percent of foster youth will face homelessness, twenty percent will be arrested or incarcerated, 46 percent will complete high school and only one percent will graduate from college. For these reasons, Hillsides founded Hillsides Youth Moving On (YMO) in 2004. 

By providing comprehensive services such as transitional housing, education, employment, mental health and mentoring support, we help youth transition successfully into adulthood. YMO helps youth avoid negative circumstances and achieve long-term self-sufficiency. Former foster care and probation youth take their first steps to independence when they arrive at YMO. Today, YMO has increased its capacity to accommodate ten more youth in permanent housing. 

Over the summer, we began a collaborative effort with First Place for Youth to secure funding from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to provide affordable housing and support services for a minimum of twenty youth over the next two years.  Permanent Housing, unlike transitional housing, has no pre-determined amount of time for youth to receive housing.  Youth can stay in their apartments and assume the lease as long as they pay their rent on time.  To ensure their success in this endeavor, YMO will continue to provide comprehensive case management, mental health, and career planning to all youth to guarantee a seamless transition to full self-sufficiency.

YMO also partnered with New Economics for Women (NEW), an organization that empowers disinvested communities, who willingly offered eight one and two bedroom units for our youth located at La Villa Mariposa apartments in Los Angeles. At our YMO complex, we have assigned two studio units for youth participating in this new collaborative.

This week we hosted a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony at La Villa Mariposa apartments. The Reverend Cecil L. Murray, board member of LAHSA, shared words of inspiration and encouragement to our youth. Youth present were overwhelmed with the thought of having their first place. They expressed how far they have come.

For these youth, reaching this milestone in their journey is incredibly significant. Having experienced systemic trauma, abuse, run-ins with the law, or bouts of homeless, they have prevailed from these situations. We have created conditions and placed a great deal of attention to offering a comprehensive program whose pathway leads to their successful transition into self-sufficiency and independence.

Our collaborative relationship with LAHSA, First Place for Youth and NEW is so important in trying to alter the daunting statistics for these youth. With the help of others, whose goal is also to support youth in their transition from foster care to successful adulthood, we can make significant impacts in the lives of these youth. I am privileged to be part of their journey into adulthood and thankful that others have joined along their path.

Reason to be proud…

Folks often ask me how we measure success for the children and youth we serve. Certainly we can point to any number of outcomes or achievements that demonstrate improvement whether it be in their emotional well-being, social skills or educational performance. But the true measure is ultimately expressed in the success of each and every individual we serve. The challenges that are addressed must never be underestimated and as a result their achievement is made only more remarkable.

Recently Thomas Lee, the director of Hillsides’ transitional housing and services, Youth Moving On, shared with all staff the remarkable story of one of our residents. What follows is Thomas’ presentation of Victor a young man who all of us are very proud.

Just over a year ago, Victor was an undocumented immigrant living at Optimist Homes, in need of housing and a path that wouldn’t jeopardize his probation and the attendant likelihood of deportation hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles.  He applied to Youth Moving On (YMO) for housing and services and was accepted because he only had six months more of probation which would then determine his ability to obtain residency.  All he had was a high school diploma and a fire in his eye that said: “All I want is a chance.”

Victor joined the YMO program and promptly began an internship at one of our best sites: A4 (a team sports and athletic apparel company).  While in the internship, he improved his English, business math, and job seeking skills.  He also enrolled full-time into Pasadena City College and started working toward his associate’s degree. 

Within six months, he gained his residency, helped co-found the Indigenous Peeple Clothing Company, and was hired and given full employment by A4. 

With all those accomplishments, Victor didn’t stand pat.  He travelled to Le Blanc, France with YMO’s internship abroad program, saved over $8000, and was honored by Optimist Homes, Michaela Pereira from KTLA Channel 5 Morning News, and given a commendation by Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe. 

Through it all, Vic has remained humble and hungry for more.  He’s successfully completed his first year of college and is continually looking for more opportunities to make the most of his time at YMO. 

We measure success for Victor and all we serve when they can stand on their own, full of confidence and claim a hopeful future.

Help Hillsides Youth Moving On Win $25,000 with Your Vote

In celebration of its 125^th anniversary, Mercedes-Benz will be donating $125,000 to charities; five beneficiaries will receive $25,000 each. Elizabeth Rusnak of Rusnak Auto Group offered us an opportunity to participate in the Mercedes-Benz Community Stars Dealers Give Back program for a chance to win $25,000.  With help from Stephen McDonald, our board member, and his colleagues, we produced a sixty-second pitch that we submitted. We are excited to announce that our Hillsides Youth Moving On video has been selected as an official semi-finalist!

We chose to address youth empowerment through Hillsides Youth Moving On. When foster youth turn 18 they emancipate from foster care. With little to no support, 40% of former foster youth end up homeless within 18 months after leaving care.  There is little support for transitioning successfully into adulthood. Hillsides, a charity creating safe places for vulnerable children and families, established Youth Moving On in Los Angeles. We did this to combat the daunting statistics that will eventually affect 500,000 children in foster care today. We did this to create hope and help those vulnerable youth who want to receive help and have no where or no one to turn to.

Over the course of several hours, five YMO residents participated in the filming along with Thomas Lee, YMO director. The opportunity to participate in the contest is not just beneficial for us, but for the youth to know they can make a difference in the direction of their lives and others who need help and want it. We should all feel proud of the work they did to make the video a compelling pitch.

So how can you help? We have been placed alongside 14 other deserving submissions on the Mercedes-Benz Community Stars Facebook page (http://on.fb.me/qRkvWN) for the general public to vote on it. The five $25,000 grant winners will be determined purely by the number of votes they receive.

Help us by making sure you make an announcement to your Facebook wall asking your supporters, friends and family to vote for us, Hillsides Youth Moving On, on the Community Stars page using the link above. Here are some other ideas:

• Add this link/language to your e-mail signature: Vote for Hillsides, a charity I support, to win $25,000 in the Mercedes-Benz Community Stars Contest: http://on.fb.me/qRkvWN
• If you have a Twitter feed, or use other social networks, post the following: Vote for @Hillsides children’s charity to win $25,000 in the Mercedes-Benz Community Stars Contest: http://on.fb.me/qRkvWN
• Add to your E-mail blasts and Web Site Home Page
• Please forward this blog to your family and friends so they, too, can help us win $25,000

Hillsides now has a 1 in 3 chance of winning a $25,000 donation from Mercedes-Benz since we are in the Youth Empowerment category. Thank you for taking the time to find this a worthwhile cause to spread awareness of this video and for sharing your votes with us.

Setting a Direction

Tonight the Jewish community begins their High Holiday celebrations with Rosh Hashanah culminating with Yom Kippur. It is a time to review the past year, atone for any wrongs and celebrate the beginning of a new year. This annual ritual is similar to other religious traditions that provide an annual opportunity to reflect on the past while also looking forward, hopeful for what lies ahead. This annual review is good not only for individuals, but for organizations as well. And so as Hillsides’ anticipates our centennial in 2013, we are taking some time to review the past century, in light of our ever compelling mission, in order to better position us for the next century of faithful service to vulnerable children and their families.

As a result, this past week a select group of board members and executive staff set aside half a day for the first of two sessions to set a direction for Hillsides’ next century of service. In preparation for these planning sessions, interested parties have been interviewed, some internal focus groups have been held, and an initial organizational assessment has been developed. The process is meant to be iterative, so as materials are developed they will then be vetted by staff, the board of directors and our principle stakeholders. The goal of these planning efforts is to reinvigorate Hillsides, affirm our historic mission, and set a direction that will allow us to be confident of yet another hundred years.

I’m only stating the obvious when I say that much has changed since 1913, but as much as things have changed, some things are still the same and that is our mission and commitment. Even the challenges today have some similarities with those of 1913. They have to do with funding, practice trends, quality of care and ultimately the long-term well being of the children we serve.

Hillsides has always been an organization that is very responsive to the needs of the children we serve. This is reflected in the environment that we have established on the campus to provide a safe and welcoming place for our residents, the development of our educational service over the last thirty years and, most recently, the creation of our community-based programs, specifically our services for youth leaving the foster care system. It is this history of innovation that inspires us to look ahead to the challenges the children and families we serve confront and set a direction to be ever responsive to them and a real resource to aid them in achieving their dreams and hopes.

Not Your Average Graduate

This is the season of graduations. At this time of year parents step back and acknowledge the accomplishment of their children despite the challenges associated with parenting adolescents. It is a time when some dreams are realized and new ones are established. Although we at Hillsides do not attempt to take the place of parents, we can not help, but be proud of our residents when they achieve a significant milestone such as graduating from high school, especially when the achievement comes after confronting considerable obstacles.

This past Friday evening was a momentous occasion for one of our longtime residents. In care for the last several years with only sporadic contact with members of his family, this young man graduated from La Salle High School. Bright, timid and yet determined, he achieved what few of our graduates do--a diploma from one of the more prestigious schools in our area. More than once, staff had shared with me their concerns about his ability to persevere. Nevertheless, they offered him the support that helped him get to this milestone confident and hopeful.

He said to our veteran group home director, Ramona McGee, “with your help I made it.” With our help and his commitment to his studies and addressing the trauma he experienced as a child, he made it. With our help and his determination, he can see beyond his fears to dream of a full life. This young man is not your average graduate.

He now has a high school diploma, a part-time job and will soon move to our transitional housing program at Hillsides Youth Moving On. There will be many more challenges and decisions to make yet he will not address these alone as he will be supported by the Hillsides community. Although we are not a substitute for his true family, we commit to walk alongside him so that, with our continued support, he can achieve even more and fulfill his dreams.

Instrumental in his success has been the fine staff of our boy's group home, who along with Brother DeSales and other staff at LaSalle, never gave up on this young man. Together they surrounded this young man with the care he needed and you could see the result in his beaming smile on graduation night.

Let me take this opportunity to thank LaSalle for their generous support and encourage all of you to never give up hope for the children and families we serve. This young man's graduation is witness to the power of our efforts.

Changing Our Community with a Giving Heart

In the United States alone, there are more than a million charitable organizations, and Americans give more than $300 billion annually to charitable causes (Giving USA Foundation). On November 15, we celebrated National Philanthropy Day®, the special day set aside to recognize and pay tribute to the great contributions that philanthropy—and those people active in the philanthropic community—have made to our lives, our communities and our world, as stated in the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ website.

Change the World with a Giving Heart, the theme of this year’s National Philanthropy Day, brings to light the goodness in each person and organization that contributes to vulnerable children and families like those served by Hillsides. Our donors, volunteers and child advocates, with their treasure, time or voice, help us continue to create safe places for children who have experienced traumatic childhoods and suffer from emotional and behavioral challenges. Families in need of Hillsides’ resources and professional mental health expertise are afforded these services because of our donors who give willingly to our mission. Transitional aged youth find a safe place, mentoring and mental health support at Hillsides Youth Moving On because of the combined efforts of many organizations, corporations and individuals who believe in former foster youth having an opportunity to journey through young adulthood successfully.

Last week several organizations that support our mission were recognized at the National Philanthropy Day Awards luncheon presented by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.  A hearty congratulation goes out to Print Interactive Radio and Television Education Society (PIRATES), Pasadena Independent Schools Foundation (PIS), and The Weingart Foundation for their commitment to serve nonprofits in Southern California. Both PIRATES and PISF are primarily volunteer-driven organizations themselves. Their commitment to serving nonprofits has been noticed and we recognize your dedication to the children and families we serve. Weingart Foundation was pivotal in our Youth Moving On’s capital campaign and continues to support our mission.

However, we continue to ask ourselves: What do the children need? What additional resources can we provide families? What does it take to help them? There is never enough that we can do for the children and families we serve. This year we raised $2.2 million to address all the needs of the children and families. That’s the kind of investment that donors, corporations, and foundations make alongside with volunteers and child advocates. The partnerships we make help us leverage the dollars that we have to provide for vulnerable children and families whose needs are tremendous.

We applaud Hillsides donors, corporations, foundations, volunteers and child advocates for changing our community with your giving heart. Together, we strive to create safe places for vulnerable children and families that need our love, stability, comfort, hope and resources to have brighter futures. Thanks for lighting their way and ours.

Blue Pencil Chaos

Last week was one of great highs and lows. At the beginning of the week I was invited along with many other child welfare executives to join Governor Schwarzenegger for the signing of Assembly Bill 12. Many of you who read last week’s blog entry will recognize the legislation as an important advancement of services provided to youth leaving the foster care system. The bill signing was the culmination of two years of hard work to craft the legislation and lobby for the support necessary to get it to the Governor’s desk.

The legislation, an important statement to foster care youth who have reached 18, enables us to continue providing services to former foster youth that are required for them to be successful. Having been part of this effort, it was truly gratifying to witness the signing. Youth served at both Youth Moving On and our Transition Aged Youth services throughout Los Angeles County will benefit from the legislation.

By the end of the week, a budget was presented to the Governor for his signature. Although the budget that was passed by the legislature provided no increased capacity to serve California’s most vulnerable, the budget was designed to maintain the State’s current level of commitment to social services and education. It is the Governor’s prerogatives to “blue pencil” or eliminate line items before finalizing the budget. As he has done in the past, he utilized the blue pencil to create further savings for the State’s “rainy day fund” and, in doing so, created a “rainy day” for us and other child welfare agencies.

In particular, the Governor significantly reduced funding for special education, suspended the mandate to provide some of these services, and moved the responsibility for funding these programs from the mental health to the education department. The “blue pencil” eliminations have created a tremendous chaotic environment in which to support these children and families, jeopardizing their care and placing them at considerable risk.

As you can imagine, we have been busy sorting out the impact this will have on 28 of 64 residents at Hillsides that are directly affected by these actions. We are, of course, committed to seeing them and their families through this very uncertain time and will do everything we can, within our own limited resources, to continue to provide them with the care they need.

Once again, the budget is “balanced” on the backs of the poor and the vulnerable. Once again, rhetoric is hollow as we continue to fail to allocate resources necessary to educate and safeguard our most vulnerable children and youth. Once again, the “system” further victimizes those who have been the most innocent of victims.

Over the next few weeks strategies will emerge to address this issue. We call upon our legislators to take up this issue as soon as possible and we call upon our donor community more than ever to support our efforts during this time. Together we will continue to be a resource for these children, youth and families helping them to create and find safe “places” were they can enjoy a full life.

Bill to Help Emancipated Youth and Kinship Care Passes

On September 30 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he has signed legislation to improve the lives of children and youth in California’s foster care system including AB 12 by Assemblymember Jim Beall (D-San Jose) and Assemblymember Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) to extend transitional foster care services to eligible youth between 18 and 21 years of age.

According to Governor Schwarzenegger, our foster care youth deserve every opportunity to succeed in life, and extending foster benefits and services through age 21 will help better equip them with the necessary tools. AB 12 will ensure our foster youth have access to important resources as they transition into adulthood.

Studies have shown that former foster youth are less likely to complete high school, attend college, or be employed, and are at a higher risk for becoming homeless, arrested or incarcerated. AB 12 aims to reduce this correlation by providing foster youth between the age of 18 and 21 a better support system to stay in school and obtain employment.

In addition to continuing foster care services to this age group, the legislation allows California to take advantage of federal funding through participation in kinship guardianship assistance payments. California was one of the first states to establish the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment program to provide financial assistance for children that are placed under legal guardianship with a relative and, now under this legislation, federal funding will be available to support these payments.

In the work we do to help vulnerable youth who emancipate at 18 with no place to call home, the lack of employment to help sustain them or skills to achieve independent living, we understand the significance of this legislation. At Hillsides Youth Moving On, former foster youth receive quality and affordable transitional housing, mentoring, mental health, and vocational and academic support. Critical to the success of these youth is a supportive community they can tap into while learning how to become young adults and navigate through adulthood.

We, too, rely on the help of a supportive community to assist us in also working with the youth. Your donations yearlong, especially during the holidays and in June during emancipation time, are important to giving these vulnerable youth a head start in relieving some stress or financial burden. To continue the great cause, view how you can help.

We are also ecstatic to know that relative caregivers who are participating in the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment program will also be benefiting from this legislation. We work together with families to create safe places for vulnerable children, some of whom are relatives. Often times the financial responsibility of providing for additional relatives placed in their homes is great and unexpected. This legislation will help lessen the financial strain. These are families who, at times, need to be adopted during the holidays. We hope you will continue to support us through those efforts. Learn how by visiting our www.Hillsides.org.

In Spite of Budget Impasse Key Piece of Legislation Advances in Sacramento

During the past week a key piece of legislation has advanced at the State Capitol that will have a direct impact on children, youth and families we serve. The California Fostering Connections to Success Act (AB 12--Bass and Beall) is legislation that can significantly reform California’s foster care system for emancipated foster youth and relative caregivers in two ways. 


This legislation will assist youth who “age out” of foster care. Each year in California, more than 4,000 youth “age out” when they turn 18 and are no longer eligible for foster care. Currently, Hillsides Youth Moving On program offers twenty former foster youth quality, affordable transitional housing and independent living skills. Without the support of a family, these youth do not fare well as young adults and may experience homelessness, unemployment, criminal justice involvement and low educational attainment at rates greater than their peers. AB 12 will ensure a brighter future for older youth in California’s foster care system by expanding support for foster youth to age 21, an approach proven to lead to better outcomes and leverages substantial new federal funds.  Aimed at teaching them independence as they journey through adulthood, YMO residents could benefit greatly from this legislation. 


Another group that would benefit from AB 12 is relative caregivers. In 2001, California created the Kinship Guardian Assistance Program (Kin-GAP) to ensure that relatives who take legal guardianship of a child from the foster care system receive the same support provided to non-family members. AB 12 will build on this support by drawing on new federal dollars to operate what is currently an entirely state-funded program. Doing so will save California an estimated $70 million per year. This would be a real boom to our efforts to support the families of the children and youth we serve. Rather than look to an over burdened foster family system, these resources will help us support families to be better equipped to fulfill their responsibilities as parents and caregivers.


AB 12 moves onto the full Senate, which must vote on it before the end of August. Following this, it will proceed to Governor Schwarzenegger, who has until the end of September to sign or veto the bill. Encourage your Senators to move this legislation forward so that together, we can inform Governor Schwarzenegger of the benefits to emancipated foster youth and relative caregivers. We have an opportunity to impact the lives of so many affected by the foster care system.


Contact your Senator at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html and encourage them to pass AB12 to assist emancipated foster youth transition successfully into adulthood and support relative caregivers in their commitment to care for foster care children.