Internships to Foster STEM Careers
TeenForce and Silicon Valley Children’s Fund made a bold Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) “commitment to action” in 2014 to offer work-readiness training and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) paid internships to 100% of approximately 300 high-school-aged foster youth in Santa Clara County.
The Foster Youth STEM and Work Readiness Training program includes 45 hours of technical training and 16 hours of work-readiness training. It has successfully placed over 60 foster youth in tech internships in its pilot. The program is currently on a pathway to full-scale deployment by 2018. It has been recognized as a 2015 Playmaker Award winner by the Super Bowl 50 Fund and was a Google Impact Challenge Finalist in 2015. President Clinton cited the program as an example to be replicated across the country.
Permanent Jobs for Aging Out Foster Youth
iFoster launched its jobs program, specifically for foster youth in May 2015 in partnership with leading companies in the grocery industry. Now in four California counties (Los Angeles, Placer, Riverside and San Bernardino), iFoster and its child welfare partners have trained and supported over 150 foster youth to gain competitive, permanent employment. Results to date include:
- Over 150 work-ready foster youth hired
- Over 200 foster youth in training pipeline
- 90% retention after 6 months
- Average time to promotion 3.2 months
- 12 major corporate employers & dozens more onboarding
- iFoster Jobs Scholarship program funded by grocery industry
- Congressional recognition as an innovative employment program for foster youth