Three Qualities of a Sweet Valentine

By now, many of you have received the great Valentine card that, once again, was hand painted by our longtime Board member and artist, Lyn Spector. The card depicts the familiar heart-shaped candies with the words: faith, hope and charity. When you stop to think about it, isn’t that what Valentine’s Day is all about--these three qualities that are at the root of all we do at Hillsides.

Faith has to do with that which is unseen and yet somehow perceived.  For the child that has yet to experience the security of a stable home, scholastic achievement or emotional well-being, believing it is possible or attainable is indeed a leap of faith. But convinced of the capacity of each child to improve and indeed thrive, we reach out and coax them to have faith in themselves.

Hope is that great motivator, giving us reason to persevere with the reasonable expectation that the best is yet to come. For the youth that has experienced multiple foster home placements, struggling to graduate from high school and no prospect of employment, hope is very elusive.  Marshalling our resources to provide affordable housing, incentives to stay in school and coaching around job skills makes all the difference for the young adult who, for the first time because of permanent housing, money in the bank and a steady job, has indeed reason to be hopeful!

Charity can be translated as love, that selfless act of care for another. For the child who for good reason questions whether love is indeed unconditional, relationships are approached cautiously and with some skepticism. But the consistent, non-judgmental care that we strive to provide to child and parent alike often is an eye opener to a new perspective on a world and life that actually can be characterized by honest affection and caring. True love conquers all!

At the end of the day, we hope that they are able to believe in themselves and be hopeful about their future so they may be free enough to love in return.

Faith, hope and charity: these Valentine qualities reflect our greatest wish for all we serve.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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.