First Place For Youth – Thomas Lee

#033- Today we speak with Thomas Lee from First Place For Youth. First Place For Youth, headquartered in downtown Oakland, serves transition age foster youth – ages 16-25 in five Bay Area Counties, plus Los Angeles County. First Place for Youth provides vocational and life skills so these youth can problem solve and live through the seasons of life. The organization’s goal is to….

“change the child welfare system into a child well being system where we are making sure in the most simplest terms that every young person who is aging out of foster care has a fighting chance to be able to go out and achieve their own hopes and dreams.”

The organization was founded in 1993 by Amy Lemley and Deanne Pearn, 2 graduate students attending Cal’s Goldman School of Public Policy. They were struck by how many foster youth found themselves in poverty and homeless after aging out. Each youth receives a team of 3 dedicated professionals that wrap themselves around them.

Thomas tells us there are 3 things we miss when it comes to foster youth:

#1 Foster youth experience foster care through no fault of their own

#2 Majority of youth who experience foster care do so because of neglect, not abuse

#3 California has the most foster youth in the country

On the importance of First Place For Youth in Oakland, Thomas says…

“Our office is right there on 17th and Broadway. Oakland is the hub for all of our work…”

“….as we continue to be one of the most innovative cutting edge organizations, there is no better place than in Oakland. That is alway where some of the best innovative ideas that come out of California start, they begin there. This helps us stay really connected to the heartbeat and essence of what California is and how to make change in a substantive way across, so it benefits everyone throughout the state.”

Be sure to stick around ‘til the end to hear Thomas discuss how social and support networks lower the need for social systems