Every young person deserves access to opportunity.
Each year across the US 200,000 young people transition from state systems of care. Many of these young people will face unique barriers finding meaningful employment opportunities and accessing basic needs.
The Schultz Family Foundation works with our partners to create pathways to meaningful opportunities for young people ages 18 to 24 who are transitioning from foster care and justice systems. Through in-person navigational support, wrap-around services, employment training, and/or job placement services prior to or during their transition the Foundation and its partners work to create greater opportunity, accessible to all.
The Foundation’s partners are consistently doing critical work on the ground to create opportunity for young people and are seeing success.
Building on the knowledge, network and insights gained from our grant making to date, we’ve identified three broad goals based on the potential for impact and the opportunity for innovation. Our goals are:
1. Identify and learn effective practices and supports for systems-involved young people by supporting direct service organizations that provide upstream or preventative support.
2. Invest in innovative technology-based solutions that will connect young people with information and support.
3. Identify and build partnerships between state agencies, community-based organizations, and employers to create high-quality transition planning and services from when a young person leaves a state-system of care until employment.
See the impact of our partners:
WATCH: Since 2006, exalt has worked to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. Working exclusively with court-involved youth in New York City, from the moment they are referred, exalt helps to keep young people out of further involvement in the juvenile justice system.
WATCH: In 2023 Jalyssa was introduced to Unlock Potential, a nonprofit whose mission is to break the cycle of incarceration by providing meaningful employment opportunities to a statistically at-risk group of young people. Unlock Potential connected Jalyssa with a 10-week internship at Sam’s Club, one of the organization’s corporate partners. Now, Jalyssa works full-time at Sam’s Bakery and loves it.
WATCH: Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY) is a national nonprofit that leads efforts to ban life without parole and other extreme sentences for children. CFSY explicitly works to dismantle the racial disparities, social injustices, and residual harms caused by the legal system. Through partnerships with advocacy organizations, businesses, and other stakeholders, the CFSY supports survivors of youth violence, those incarcerated as children who are still serving or have been released, and their respective families and communities.
WATCH: FreeWorld is a tech-enabled non-profit working to eliminate recidivism by connecting formerly incarcerated people to high-wage truck driving jobs. Graduates of the program known as FreeAgents are given support to find employment for up to three years after graduation. Once FreeAgents are successfully employed, they must pay it forward by contributing 10% of their monthly income for three years to help the next person complete the program.
WATCH: Founded in 2000, Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY) works to disrupt the pipeline to prison by unlocking the potential of young people and advancing justice in California and beyond. Each year FLY serves more than 2,000 youth impacted by the legal system throughout the Bay Area. In 2022, 93% of the young people who participated in FLY’s programming did not sustain a new charge.
