The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, and the Sobrato Family Foundation have formed a funding collaborative to launch the two-year Foster Youth Housing Initiative. This Initiative seeks to help former foster youth obtain and maintain permanent housing. This Initiative will unfold along three tracks: direct services, capacity-building, and systems change.

Direct Services: Nonprofits will receive funding to house and support former foster youth who are homeless and in need of housing. Grantees will also provide the necessary range of employment, education, and other supportive services that help youth to become self-sufficient. At least 150 youth will receive direct housing and supportive services through these projects.

Capacity Building: Funding will be awarded to the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) to provide convening, training, and technical assistance support for organizations housing former foster youth. CSH will work to link developers and providers to work on creating new units of permanent housing for former foster youth. CSH will also re-grant funds to specific housing projects for pre-development, feasibility, and other capital needs. At least 40 new units of housing will ultimately be created as a result of the capacity building funding.

Systems Change: CSH will convene key stakeholders from around the Bay Area to develop a regional plan for housing foster youth and determine initial advocacy priorities. One or more nonprofit organizations will be selected to move the regional agenda forward. Greater program flexibility and increased public funding are potential goals of the systems change work.

The funding collaborative has contracted with LFA to evaluate the three tracks of this Initiative. The evaluation will be designed to give funders, policy-makers, and providers information about best practices to effectively take to scale housing and services for former foster youth.