Independent Living Skills (ILS)/Foster Youth Workforce Services

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

The County of San Diego has shown a long-term commitment to providing critical services for foster children and youth as well as assisting foster youth as they transition to adulthood. The County’s Health and Human Services Agency, Child Welfare Services, and San Diego Workforce Partnership share a commitment to helping foster youth as they transition to independence. In an effort to improve outcomes for these youth, these departments joined forces to procure a joint Independent Living Skills/ Foster Youth Workforce Services contract that enables these two publically funded systems to seamlessly integrate the services they both provide to this same population. The joint effort uses a community-based approach with a two-tiered service delivery system. First tier services include the more traditional case management to assist youth to develop and implement an independent living plan as well as life-skills classes, hands-on workshops, and special events focusing on educational preparation, job searches, the youth’s housing needs, and developing permanency connections. The second tier provides services that offer much more intensive preparation for adulthood including a continuum of educational support, work-readiness, work preparation, career exploration, and both subsidized and unsubsidized employment.