{"id":1116110,"date":"2023-07-03T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-03T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/?p=16583"},"modified":"2023-07-03T13:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T13:30:00","slug":"l-a-county-opens-its-1000-a-month-aid-program-to-former-foster-youth-heres-how-to-apply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/07\/03\/l-a-county-opens-its-1000-a-month-aid-program-to-former-foster-youth-heres-how-to-apply\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. County opens its $1,000-a-month aid program to former foster youth. Here\u2019s how to apply"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By\u00a0GISSELLE MEDINA<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n See original post here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kipp Kahlia<\/a> spent several decades touring as a guitarist with reggae artists from Jamaica until illness forced her to put a halt to her career. She began offering private guitar and bass lessons as a stopgap solution, still envisioning herself writing and performing songs some day that championed social justice and fostered understanding and empathy among audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like many people shifting career gears, Kahlia had trouble making ends meet. She found crucial support, though, from Breathe<\/a>, the L.A. County government\u2019s guaranteed income pilot program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kahlia is\u00a0one of 1,000 county residents<\/a>\u00a0who will receive $1,000 a month for 36 months from the program. And now the county is extending the aid to a new group: former foster youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Specifically, the program will offer $1,000 per month for two years to 200 young adults who were under the care of the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services.<\/a> This expansion is being carried out in collaboration with the nonprofit Strength-Based Community Change organization and the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Center for Guaranteed Income Research. Funding for Breathe comes from federal COVID-19 relief dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The program will start accepting applications Tuesday, but those interested need to act fast; the application window closes in two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to the 200 participants, the county will select a control group of 450 foster youth who will not receive cash assistance. Both groups will actively participate in research activities conducted by the Center for Guaranteed Income Research, such as surveys and interviews, to better understand participants\u2019 experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For their time, members of the control group will receive $50 gift cards for each survey completed after the application and initial round of questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every year, approximately 4,000 foster youth in California<\/a> who have reached adulthood leave foster care, making them ineligible for further placements and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c<\/strong>When you compare former foster youth to other cohorts of youth in the same situation as them, their rates of homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, and being involved in the justice system are higher,\u201d said Carrie Miller, executive director of the county\u2019s Poverty Alleviation Initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is especially true in Los Angeles County, which has the greatest number of foster care youths<\/a> in California. In January 2017, almost one-third of young people in foster care between the ages of 16 and 21 were enrolled in aid programs for low-income youths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are more details on the county\u2019s program and the application process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You are eligible if you meet all of these requirements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you need help applying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you submit your application, Strength Based Community Change will be in touch to let you know whether you were selected. Miller said that participants are expected to be fully enrolled by the end of August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The county will provide the cash grants to participants through a prepaid debit card, which will be topped up every month. Participants are not required to have a bank account and can withdraw money from various ATMs without incurring any service fees. Nor does the card charge usage fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Center for Guaranteed Income Research will survey participants every six months, concluding six months after the final cash grant. It will issue a final report on the program about a year later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Allison Thompson, executive director of the Center for Guaranteed Income, said researchers will explore how the aid affects formerly foster youths\u2019 well-being and self-determination, \u201cand how it potentially frees them to engage differently in other domains of their lives, like education and employment choices, in order to give space and breathing room to be able to make those choices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thompson said that there\u2019s limited data about programs that offer youths direct cash assistance. The center\u2019s goal is to show the effectiveness of such programs<\/a>, use the findings to inform policy solutions<\/a>, and develop a sustainable method for people to receive direct cash assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Breathe\u2019s first year, the average age of participants was 40<\/a> and 57% of them identified as Hispanic. They spent the vast majority of their money on basic needs<\/a>: a little more than a third of it went to food and groceries, a little less than a third to retail and services, and about a tenth to transportation. Less than 6 cents of every $1 went toward entertainment and miscellaneous expenses, the survey found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among other things, Kahlia said she has used her $1,000 monthly stipend to buy a new car to replace the 28-year-old one she\u2019d nicknamed \u201cRaggedy Andy,\u201d create and maintain a new website, enroll in business classes, and fund other essential expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c<\/strong>I asked how long the money would last for, thinking it was probably going to be a year, maybe six months,\u201d said Kahlia. \u201cWhen they told me three years, I nearly fell out of my chair and thought, that would give me time to do things properly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Participants work with economic development coaches who check in and offer guidance on financial management and achieving long-term stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n General resources for Los Angeles foster youth include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c<\/strong>What we\u2019re seeing with guaranteed income programs is that the power of unconditional cash for those who receive it is tremendous \u2014 folks are more likely to want to go back to school, open their own business, and do other activities that help promote their own ability to support themselves and support their families,\u201d said Miller. \u201cThis needs to become a permanent part of the way we deliver services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n The post L.A. County opens its $1,000-a-month aid program to former foster youth. Here\u2019s how to apply<\/a> appeared first on Basic Income Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n This post was originally published on Basic Income Today<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kipp Kahlia\u00a0spent several decades touring as a guitarist with reggae artists from Jamaica until illness forced her to put a halt to her career. She began offering private guitar and bass lessons as a stopgap solution, still envisioning herself writing and performing songs some day that championed social justice and fostered understanding and empathy among audiences.<\/p>\n The post L.A. County opens its $1,000-a-month aid program to former foster youth. Here\u2019s how to apply<\/a> appeared first on Basic Income Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1529,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1105,64329,246,5570,5561,348],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116110"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1529"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1116110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1116118,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116110\/revisions\/1116118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1116110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1116110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1116110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Who is eligible for the program?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How can I apply for the guaranteed income program?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How will you know if you\u2019re accepted?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What does the research show?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What other resources do foster youth have in Southern California?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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What other guaranteed income programs are in L.A. County?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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