Sign up for an e-newsletter

Pass It Along (Acts of Kindness) Fund helps people in crisis.

CCF funds final push for census outreach.

Event encourages innovation, partnerships in education.

Data drives census outreach.

See how your community is doing on the census count.

Attend a workshop on grant development

CCF grantee United Friends of the Children, pictured here, helps foster youth and former foster youth live independent, successful lives.

May is National Foster Care Month, designed to raise awareness of the challenges that foster youth and young people “aging out” of the foster care system face, as well as to celebrate the organizations making a difference in the lives of these youth. Over the last two years, CCF has designated more than $1 million of its discretionary grantmaking funds to support youth aging out of the foster care system through the Human Development grantmaking portfolio.

“For many youth aging out of the foster care system, moving into adulthood is often a scary time,” said Human Development Program Officer Robert Lewis. “Nearly half of these youth in California end up homeless within a year of leaving the system. Nonprofits like CCF’s Human Development grantees help these youth with everything from securing housing to job training to mentoring, all to help them establish the stability that they so desperately need to succeed.”

CCF’s goal for its foster youth grantmaking is to increase the ability of youth transitioning out of foster care to avoid social isolation and institutionalization. Partner grantees include the Alliance for Children’s Rights, an organization that provides free legal services and advocacy for foster youth and others; St. Anne’s Maternity Home, which provides transitional housing for young mothers who have aged out of the foster system among other programs; and United Friends of the Children, which is dedicated to improving the lives of foster youth and former foster youth through programs, advocacy and direct involvement.

These and other organizations will sponsor events around L.A. County throughout the month, which was kicked off by a gathering of hundreds of youth, foster parents, parents and advocates at the Capitol in Sacramento on May 3. Find out about events near you.

Read more about CCF’s Human Development grantmaking.