Honoring Emancipated Youth (HEY) and Jobs for Youth (JFY) are community impact projects of United Way of the Bay Area. At the annual HEY Breakfast that was held on May 1st, 2007 JFY worked with the HEY staff as volunteers to show their support for the program, it's mission, and it's youth. HEY Interim Director Sara Razavi had this to say...
"Dear JFY Members and Supporters,
I just must say it… yes I just have to… JFY members and supporters, you have some of the finest people in your corner! The staff at Jobs For Youth: Yuri, Mayela, Kevin, and Ed are all so amazing! Not only are they out there doing the daily work making sure youth in San Francisco have jobs but they also help other agencies so that together we can all do a better job supporting youth in transition! Organizations, like the one I work for - Honoring Emancipated Youth (HEY), a San Francisco based organization providing leadership to the Bay Area foster care (www.heysf.org) – are doing a better job because of our partnership with Jobs For Youth!
May is National Foster Care Month and to help kick-off the celebrations, HEY hosted our 4th Annual Foster Youth Connections Breakfast on Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco. The event celebrated HEY’s work and connected community leaders, foster care provider agencies, and foster youth for a job shadow day. Following the breakfast, youth participants traveled to job sites and shadowed community leaders who had volunteered to host a youth for the day. On this day, each year, local foster youth are connected to professional mentors in a wide range of career fields and this year we were able to introduce the foster youth to Jobs For Youth as well!
60% of foster youth who age out of foster care have no job experience. Many youth, having little or no work experience and limited adult support, are unable to find, acquire, and retain employment. While focused on trying to meet their basic needs, many foster youth never ask the question, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” However, given the proper support, most foster youth can find and retain employment and excel in the workplace. In fact, youth in foster care who have worked before their 18th birthdays are more likely to graduate from high school and more likely to work after emancipation. The breakfast and following job shadow experience is a first step in helping foster youth to think about their future and envision what they can achieve in life. Again a great big thanks to the Jobs For Youth team for their great work supporting the local foster care youth and making sure they were ready for the day. Jobs For Youth devoted their time as well as a Friday evening two weeks before the event, to make sure the foster youth attending HEY's Breakfast were given every opportunity to have a great day on May 1. Youth came from four of our partner agencies: San Francisco Independent Living Skills Program, Larkin Street Youth Services, First Place for Youth, and San Francisco State University Guardian Scholars Program. Thank you Jobs For Youth for helping foster youth in San Francisco bay area!
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Sara Razavi, HEY Director"
Thanks Sara. Anytime.
