Pasadena City College opens first housing unit for foster youth

Pasadena City College is opening its first housing unit near its campus for transitional-age foster youth.

The six studio units will be for PCC students who are aging out of foster care in an effort to support students toward graduation, said Thomas Lee, CEO of First Place for Youth, a youth services agency that’s partnering with the college.

Foster youth who are exiting the system often face a lack of transportation, stable housing, and economic resources that can make it difficult for them to graduate, Lee said. A report about transitional age youth in California found that among students who attended college, less than 10% completed a degree.

“As we call in the world of child welfare, they always have the 'cliff' staring at them when all the services and supports kind of fall away, and they have to be able to do it on their own,” he said.

Lee said in addition to providing free housing, he said the hope is to also to create a dorm-like experience for foster youth, as community colleges can be an isolating experience.

“When people are going to community colleges, they are not able to enjoy the community that you find almost naturally embedded at a four-year institution,” he said. “By having youth living in close proximity to the college campus, it gives them greater access to be able to leverage that community, to leverage the support of their professors, as well as all of the campus support services, without having to travel an inordinate amount of space and time in order to receive that.”

Lee said the goal over the next two years is to turn an adjacent property into another 16-unit complex to serve more transitional age youth.

David Sigala Gomez, an educational advisor for foster youth at PCC, called having stable housing for students nearby a “gamechanger.” He said 200 to 250 students on campus have identified themselves as current or former foster youth.

“ When they don’t have stable housing, they don’t succeed, whether in academics or life in general,” Sigala Gomez said.

The students will be moving into the six studio units next week.