Downtown Modesto center prepares foster youth to live as adults

Foster teens who are getting ready to live on their own now have a center in downtown Modesto where they can pick up the skills they need.

The Independent Living Skills Program Youth Center started providing services in September for current and former foster youth at 1009 J St., near 10th Street. An event to show the center to the public is set for 4 to 6 p.m. Nov. 13.

In May, Stanislaus County awarded a $329,700 contract to the human services agency Aspiranet to run the living skills center. In the past, foster youth attended personal development classes held at the Community Services Agency center on Hackett Road.

The new center gives the teens and young adults a place of their own.

“It’s not a government center,” said Nenita Dean, a Community Services Agency manager. “It is their center. It’s a comfortable place. The young people feel more at ease because it’s a youth center.”

Studies have found that children raised in foster care have high rates of unemployment, homelessness, drug abuse and psychological issues after they become adults.

Social workers refer foster youth age 15 to 21 to the local center to start preparing them to live on their own. A state law that took effect in January 2012 allows them to stay in foster care until they are 21.

The Modesto center also serves teens who have been placed on probation by the juvenile court.

The young people learn to cook at the center and attend workshops where they create résumés and hold mock interviews to prepare them for employment. Other classes help them plan their education, manage a personal budget, chart a career or learn about parenting and conflict resolution.

Dean said the center partners with agencies in the community to provide education on other topics. For example, staff members from county public health may talk about nutrition or avoiding pregnancy. Another community partner may teach a seminar on preparing taxes.

The program also takes the young people on college field trips and holds an annual retreat on youth leadership.

Another service provided at the center is housing placement for those participating in extended foster care. The young adults are supported as they live in their own place for the first time.

“We find an apartment for them,” center Director Alma Garcia Mendoza said. “We fully furnish it, and they are assigned to a life coach. We assess them for what they need to complete their goals and make sure that by the end of the program they are independent and ready to go.”

As they are learning to become self-sufficient, foster care graduates can live in transitional housing until they turn 25.

People attending the opening Nov. 13 can learn more about the center. The event will feature guest speakers, a youth art contest and panel of former and current foster youth sharing their views on the independent living services.

“The center has only been open for a (few weeks) and we have already been able to see the positive impact this has had with our youth,” Garcia Mendoza said.

This story was originally published November 1, 2015 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Downtown Modesto center prepares foster youth to live as adults."