Executive Summary

The RightWay Foundation partners with emancipating foster youth (ages 18-26+, 90% Black, 9% Latina/o/x) to build stable, self-sufficient adulthoods, grounded in mental health treatment, launched by supported housing, and solidified through employment.

In 2011, Franco Vega, an orphan and former probation youth, founded RightWay in recognition of the unresolved trauma creating barriers to job retention for foster youth in Los Angeles County. Integrating mental health and employment services, RightWay’s programs utilize intensive therapy, job training and placement, dedicated housing, career and education navigation, financial coaching, and community. From every angle, our programs work to break down barriers, providing the multifaceted, consistent support foster youth need to build financial and emotional stability in adulthood.

We work with the most underserved and overlooked population of youth exiting foster care. The youth who come through our doors have been programmed to believe they should not attain a college degree, pursue a career, or expect love and community. Our programs deconstruct that mindset and set our youth on the path to self-discovery and accountability.

Side by side with our youth, we are countering the corrosive effects of the housing crisis and ending the pipeline from foster care to unemployment, homelessness, isolation, and incarceration. RightWay’s programs provide a robust community and an abundance of resources to disrupt the generational cycle of trauma and poverty for foster youth.

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