Turning Foster Care Into an ‘Engine of Opportunity’

By Giving List Staff   |   November 18, 2022

In 2018, a few months after Elizabeth Clews exited the foster care system at 18 years old, she was pregnant and living out of her car on the streets of Southern California.

She tried to pull herself out of the desperate situation by enrolling in community college. Juggling an infant, a job slinging lattes at Starbucks, all with no support and unhoused, she bombed the first semester and didn’t go back. 

“My time in care was really hard but that transition to adulthood proved to be much harder,” Clews says. “I think that if I would have had somebody there for me, that would have made all the difference.” 

Today, thanks to years of policy advocacy by John Burton Advocates for Youth – or JBAY for short – foster youth have a mountain of support to help them get into college and succeed so that what happened to Clews is the rarity, not the norm.  

Since its founding in 2004 by John Burton, a former California politician, JBAY has helped thousands of California’s foster and homeless youth gain safe housing, food security, and access to higher education. The 53 bills JBAY has guided through the State Legislature have led to $3.6 billion in public investment to uplift the state’s most vulnerable young people. 

“We’ve made tremendous measurable impacts that have contributed to transforming foster care, a historically problematic system, into an engine of opportunity,” says Amy Lemley, JBAY’s executive director. 

Foster youth caregivers now follow a curriculum created by JBAY that begins preparing a young person as early as in the 8th grade for a path toward higher education. Social workers are now required to help foster youth apply for college admissions and financial aid. 

Once at school, another host of JBAY-sponsored laws has led to the creation of a community college network of programs to support foster youth on campus as they transition into adulthood. A new law makes it possible for every foster youth attending a community college, Cal State University, or University of California campus to have access to economic, academic, and social support.   

Now 28, and with two children, Clews tried college one last time after losing her job during the pandemic. This time, she received support with financial assistance and was connected to resources to help former foster youth. She graduated from Ventura College with an AA degree and was accepted to the University of California, Santa Cruz, her number one pick. 

“She’s going to be a Banana Slug,” Lemley says. “She’s going to get the financial aid we’ve made possible, she’s going to get campus support at UC Santa Cruz because of our advocacy.”  

 

John Burton Advocates for Youth

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www.jbay.org
(415) 348-0011
Development Associate: Jeffrey Lee

Mission

John Burton Advocates for Youth improves the quality of life for youth in California who have been in foster care or homeless by advocating for better laws, training communities to strengthen local practices and conducting research to inform policy solutions.

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I am very grateful to have access to a foster youth program at UC Berkeley, which helps me stay on track, even when times get tough. Thanks to JBAY, foster youth across California will receive more of the support we need.
Joshua Potgieter
Former foster youth

John Burton Turns 90, Celebrate His Legacy

JBAY is launching a tribute fund in honor of the legacy of John Burton, who dedicated his life to serving those most in need. In the short term, the fund will be used to give foster youth, who were hurt financially by the pandemic, the resources to get back on track, including helping them attain a college degree. Through JBAY’s legislative efforts, the amount of foster youth enrolled in community college has skyrocketed from 26,000 five years ago to 42,000 today.  

“Let’s not lose faith; positive change is happening every day,” says Amy Lemley, JBAY’s executive director. “We are launching the most vulnerable young people into an economy where they are going to create a life for themselves.” 

Key Supporters

Alice Suet Yee Barkley
Angell Foundation
Bluebird Legacy
Carmen and Greg Castro-Franceschi
Carrie Estelle Doheny Foundation
College Futures Foundation
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
Donna and Greg Lucas
First Republic Bank
Help for Children
Kaiser Permanente
Melanie and Larry Blum
National Center for Youth Law
Pat and Jerome Dodson
Pinpoint Foundation
Rick Mariano and Katherine Feinstein
Stupski Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Tahbazof Family Foundation
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg
Foundation
Thomas and Salma Haider
Tipping Point Community
United Ways California
Walter S. Johnson Foundation