Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn from kindergarten to high school.
Published July 25, 2023 6:00 AM
Aleyssa Coleman, 18, a senior at Palmdale High School, sits in the driver's seat on July 21, 2023.
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Topline:
Almost every year since 2015, Palmdale High School students have built a solar car and competed in a national race against other high schools. We followed the team’s journey this year and spoke with alums of the program, which many describe as an invigorating and life-altering experience.
The backstory: Over the years, Palmdale High School students have dealt with faulty writes, blown fuses, even a car catching fire back in 2018. Plus, they’ve persevered through persistent funding challenges faced by California public schools.
What’s new this year? Organizers canceled the Solar Car Challenge competition early, which started in Fort Worth, Texas, for the first time in three decades after more than a dozen staff members tested positive for COVID-19.
A lasting impact: Several Palmdale High School graduates are now engineers. “That was just probably one of the best experiences that I've ever had in my life,” said Oscar Guzman, a 2015 graduate and former solar car team member. “It really defined what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Only one team made it to the final city in this year’s national multi-state high school solar car race.
Listen
4:03
LISTEN: Palmdale High School’s Solar Car Team Keeps Rolling
Palmdale High School students pushed their car onto campus Friday, marking the end of a race cut short. Last-minute technical problems scuttled the team’s plans to drive the car across the unofficial finish line.
“We got first place, right?” one student joked.
It was an unexpected ending to an unusual race. A COVID-19 outbreak among the competition’s coordinators ended the 2023 Solar Car Challenge three days into a weeklong contest from Fort Worth, Texas to Palmdale. It was the first time in three decades the competition had been cut short.
“I was so tired many times,” said senior driver EJ Dela Cruz, recalling the challenges the high school team faced. “But just working on that car, wanting to succeed, just really turned me into something different.”
The Palmdale High School Solar Falcon race team gathers in a circle and cheers after unloading the Helios Falcon solar car on July 21, 2023.
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Since their first race in 2015, the Antelope Valley team has finished the Solar Car Challenge every year except 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic.
It’s no small feat: Over the years, they’ve dealt with faulty wires, blown fuses and even a car catching fire mid-race back in 2018. Plus, persistent funding challenges faced by California public schools.
Assistant Principal Chris Andrews says the challenges have led to valuable lessons for the students.
“Ultimately it's about perseverance,” he said.
Alumni of the program agree. Several Palmdale High School graduates, who are now engineers themselves, can still describe the technical details of building the car as if they happened yesterday rather than nearly a decade ago.
“That was just probably one of the best experiences that I've ever had in my life,” said Oscar Guzman, a 2015 Palmdale grad and former solar car team member. “It really defined what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
The Solar Falcons origin story
Palmdale’s solar car team is embedded in the school’s Engineering Academy as a class to ensure students receive academic credit and teachers get paid for their work. The school-within-a-school evolved from vocational education classes like automotive mechanics and construction. The program is one of Antelope Valley Union High School District’s 10 academies, which also include concentrations in health care, multimedia, film and video.
“Our jobs as public educators are in order to be able to prepare students for all of those options and choices not within the high school,” said Betsy McKinstry, district director of Career Tech Ed.
Students in the Engineering Academy work in a room that used to be an automotive shop. Sweeping garage doors lead to a classroom where students learn how to use computer-aided design software, laser cutters and 3-D printers.
“In engineering, a lot of it is actually building things that you're going to test,” said Ruben Rodriguez, a founding Engineering Academy teacher. “All that is manual. All that is hands on.”
One of the 3D printers that Palmdale High School engineering students use for their various projects.
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Safety goggles and headphones that the students use in the engineering lab.
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Wyatt Garcia also graduated from Palmdale High School in 2015 and said Rodriguez tailored the classes to teenage interests. For example, the students built skateboards from scratch.
“You weren't going to fail,” Garcia said. “It was all just like little building blocks where you learn how to do this.”
During the 2013-2014 school year, a school field trip to a science symposium where students spotted a “badass” university solar car inspired the students to build a sun-powered vehicle of their own. Garcia wasn’t there, but would hear the story re-counted when he later joined the Solar Falcons, the Palmdale High School team.
The Solar Car Challenge competition, started in 1993, provided a template and a goal — students worked together to build a car, then drive their invention in a race against students from across the country.
Rodriguez served as one of the team’s first advisors back in the summer of 2014.
"If it's good for kids, let's try to figure it out — that's always been my philosophy," said Betsy McKinstry, Antelope Valley Union High School District Director of CTE/College and Career Readiness since 2008.
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Ruben Rodriguez, the founder of the Palmdale High School engineering academy and solar car team said failure is a part of learning. "Engineers don't succeed the first time," Rodriguez said. "You fail, and you fail, and you fail, and you fail — often a lot — so that you will eventually end up with a good product."
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Lockheed Martin initially sponsored the project and engineers from the aerospace company that helped develop military aircraft mentored the team.
How Does A Solar Car Work?
Solar panels absorb light from the sun, then a photovoltaic converter changes the energy to electricity that is stored in batteries and powers the car’s motor. Palmdale’s vehicle, known as the Helios Falcon, has a separate battery that powers the speedometer, horn, emergency lights and other dashboard functions.
Students work in four groups to build all components of the vehicle: electrical, automotive, solar and fabrication. Along the way, students typically solve for dozens of potential disasters. For example, the car’s battery is housed in a metal box that, if not properly ventilated, can overheat and explode.
It opened my eyes and it really helped me understand like, ‘Hey, like, this is how math is used in the real world to solve real problems.’
— Oscar Guzman, 2015 Palmdale grad and solar car team member
Guzman, then the team’s vice president, remembers the Lockheed engineers working with students in 2014 and 2015 to ensure the car’s battery could cool off by calculating how much air needed to flow through the battery compartment.
“That light bulb went off and I was like, ’Wow, that's incredible,’” Guzman said.
It was one of the first times Guzman saw engineering in action, but it wouldn’t be the last.
“It opened my eyes,” Guzman said. “It really helped me understand like, ‘Hey, like, this is how math is used in the real world to solve real problems.’”
The team built the first car in less than a year and named it for the Greek sun god. The Helios Falcon traveled 349.5 miles around the Texas Motor Speedway and placed seventh out of 15 teams in 2015.
Wyatt said years later, when he experiences self-doubt, he remembers the solar car team’s debut.
“We fought for it, like, we, we grinded through it,” Garcia said. “People around us supported us through it. And I think that really gave us the motivation, like, to continue on.”
Garcia returned to mentor subsequent solar car teams. It was a way to give back, and also earn supplemental income while he attended community college and cared for his daughter, who was born his junior year in high school.
“It gave me a lot of purpose,” Garcia said.
Joseph Jones, 16, stands near the car's solar panels on July 21, 2023. Jones carried out electrical work on the Helios Falcon.
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Behind the scenes, teachers and district administrators over the years built an infrastructure to financially support the program.
The Antelope Valley Press reported the first car, plus travel to Texas for the competition, cost around $95,000.
The district combines money from state and federal career and technical education funding to maintain class sizes and purchase materials for the Engineering Academy.
“If you can demonstrate that this is good for kids, you can find the funding,” said Andrews, the assistant principal.
The Solar Team also relies on individual donations and corporate sponsorships, including from local science, technology, engineering and mathematics companies.
“To have a homegrown talent pipeline of underrepresented communities that are in our schools, especially in Title One schools, is really important to economic development,” said McKinstry, the district director.
The 2022-2023 school year was teacher Matthew Henzie's first as the Solar Falcon team advisor. He said the students' biggest lessons weren't technical ones. "Some of these kids may never weld again, but they will learn skills that will go through every area of life," Henzie said. "Identifying where the problem is, not only figuring out a solution, but figuring out the best solution and being able to work together as a team."
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The demographics of Palmdale High School’s Engineering Academy largely reflect those of the school overall, with about 85% of the 220 students identifying as Latinx. There are proportionally fewer Black students — they make up 7% of the engineering academy and 14% of the school overall. Over 80% of the engineering academy is male, while the school overall has a roughly 50-50 gender mix.
Nearly 70% of engineering academy students come from low-income families or those in which neither parent has received a high school diploma.
The 2023 race
How we reported this story
LAist interviewed Palmdale High School educators, students and alumni. The story also has quotes from rising senior Hannah Valdez’s audio diary of the race that included interviews with several teammates. Valdez is the student responsible for the team’s communications.
The Solar Challenge alternates annually between a closed track race and a multi-state sprint where each team has an allotted time each day to travel as many miles as possible. The 2023 route stretched from Fort Worth, Texas to Palmdale.
Once students arrive in Texas, every team has to pass through a rigorous car evaluation dubbed “scrutineering” before they’re cleared to compete.
This year, judges questioned whether the structure of the Palmdale team’s battery box would hold up in a collision.
While the team is used to heat — Palmdale regularly tops 100 degrees in the summer — Texas humidity added challenges.
“You're already stressed and you're hot and you're mad and the car's not working,” recalled team member Hannah Valdez, who serves as the team’s spokesperson. “You're told you have to get this fixed and this and on top of this and that and that It just all really comes into one big issue— that puts a strain on the team.”
The fabrication team rushed to manufacture a solution.
From left, Diego Munoz Diaz, junior; Mathew Adeleke, sophomore; Anthony Sananes, junior; Jennie Perez Armenta, senior; Alejandro Rodriguez, senior; EJ Dela Cruz, senior; Hannah Valdez, junior; Tania Campos, senior; Aleyssa Coleman, senior; Top right: Joseph Jones, sophomore; Cannon Garriga, sophomore, stand next to their solar car, the Helios Falcon, in the parking lot of Palmdale High School on July 21, 2023.
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The last-minute modifications worked and the Helios Falcon passed scrutineering.
On the first day of the race, July 16, the team woke to muggy heat and cloudy skies. Sprinkles soon turned to heavy rain, thunder and lightning. The car was slow to start and only got up to about 20 miles per hour instead of its usual average of 25 to 35 miles per hour.
On day two, the team spent between three and four hours repairing a blown fuse.
A team from Watertown High School in Wisconsin and the Bend School District in Oregon helped with the repairs — a valuable reminder of the race’s purpose.
“It's not about competition between teams, but it's about teamwork,” said Dela Cruz, one of the Palmdale team’s drivers. “And wanting every team to succeed and just finish the race altogether.”
This type of aid is common. Back in 2022, the Palmdale team provided another high school with a spare motor.
“There's always hiccups and I think that's what makes it even more exciting yet challenging and frustrating,” said Kassandra Vazquez Jimenez, a 2019 Palmdale graduate. "You can be there and you'll learn the inside and the outside of the car.”
Diego Munoz Diaz, a junior student, and solar car fabrication engineer, unloads equipment from the school van on July 21, 2023.
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By 10 a.m. on day three, the team found their groove, Valdez said at the time. The Helios Falcon had its best day yet, and traveled 40 miles on the stretch of race between Carlsbad, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas.
But that night, the advisors called the team to the hotel lobby and announced the 2023 challenge was over. More than a dozen staff members of the Solar Car Challenge had COVID-19 and the remainder of the race was canceled to avoid spreading the disease among students.
Team Captain Anthony Sonanes Cruz gave the team space to process.
“I know they needed to let things out and they were just upset,” Sonanes Cruz said. “I wasn't going to say anything to them.”
The Palmdale team returned to their rooms to test. No one from the high school team had COVID then or has tested positive since.
Soon, the team caravan, which included a pickup truck, trailer, and van began the drive back to Palmdale.
“My best memory was spending the nights with the teammates,” driver Dela Cruz said.
The students played Cards Against Humanity in the evenings and were gifted free breakfast from an Arizona café that saw a video of the team on social media.
The Solar Falcons seniors got one last chance to drive the car on an empty stretch of desert road Friday afternoon.
Where are they now?
The Palmdale solar car team has yet to win first place, but alumni describe the experience leading up to the competition as nothing short of life-altering.
Rodriguez, who retired in 2022, said the goal was never for every student to become an engineer.
“What I want is for them to be able to apply whatever it is that they have learned,” Rodriguez said.
Vazquez remembered being one of few women in the engineering academy when she joined as freshman in 2015 and said it was teachers like Rodriguez that encouraged her to continue.
“They would just take me under their wing and help me navigate it,” Vazquez said. Her senior year, Rodriguez introduced her to a team alum that helped inform her decision to study engineering at UC Irvine.
Vazquez now works as a mechanical engineer at Southern California Edison in Palmdale.
Kimberly Amador graduated in 2019 and now studies computer science at University of the Pacific. She says the teamwork is what she remembers most about her time as a Solar Falcon. "Everyone puts in a piece," Amador said. "We're all working together to keep going and keep adding on to that piece."
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Wyatt Garcia planned to join the military or become a firefighter after graduating. After joining the solar car team, he switched to studying engineering at Antelope Valley College. Garcia went on to graduate from Cal State Long Beach with a degree in electrical engineering.
“This whole trajectory, where I'm at right now, is all because of solar car,” Garcia said.
Garcia now works at Honeybee Robotics in Pasadena.
“My stuff I’m working on [that] I physically touched … it’s going to space,” Garcia said with a little bit of wonder before clarifying that whether the craft makes it to the moon will depend on several factors outside of his control.
Garcia’s classmate Oscar Guzman went on to study computer science at Cal State Northridge and is on track to complete a master’s degree in 2024.
Last year he accepted a job at Lockheed Martin — the completion of a dream initiated when he first met engineers from the company while working on the solar car. Guzman doesn’t plan to leave the Antelope Valley any time soon.
“There's plenty of opportunity,” Guzman said. “As long as there's people here who, you know, can lead the way.”
A crowd of parents, school administrators and students gather for the arrival of the Palmdale High School solar race team on July 21, 2023.
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Tania Campos, a Palmdale High School senior and fabrication engineer, embraces her family as she arrives from Texas on July 21, 2023.
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A warm homecoming
Honks from an ambulance, the school’s cheerleaders, revving engines from a local motorcycle club and dozens of friends, family and educators greeted the students at the school just after 6 p.m. Friday.
The team unloaded the Helios Falcon in less than 2 minutes, a routine they perfected while in Texas.
The eleven students huddled in front of the car and at the count of three shouted “Falcons!” in unison.
The team held back tears and laughter while the school’s principal, a board member and the adult support crew commended their work.
“This year I saw 10 misfits become one cohesive team,” said Pedro del Valle, a staff member at the high school and a longtime solar car supporter. “I saw them come out of their shells. I saw their confidence build. And all I can say is, as parents, you should be very proud of every single one of them.”
Sonanes Cruz, the team captain, said he was overwhelmed.
“I thank everyone for the support,” he said. “What else can I say? Thank you.”
Anthony Sonanes Cruz, 17, tearfully embraces his father after a day of unloading and travel from Texas on July 21, 2023.
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The team has a few weeks to rest before preparations for next year’s solar car race and school start in August. Sonanes Cruz will return as the team's captain and CEO.
One team dream is to race in the advanced division of the competition where cars are capable of reaching up to 70 miles per hour. The team also has an electric vehicle that sat out this year’s race that they hope to use in competition again one day.
One of the first things to address is the mechanical issue that hampered the Helios Falcon’s homecoming. Sonanes Cruz guesses it’s a loose wire that should be easy enough to fix.
“I haven't seen one challenge that we have not found a solution for yet,” Sonanes Cruz said.
We don't want to scare you, but the Big One is coming. We don't know when, but we know it'll be at least 44 times stronger than Northridge and 11 times stronger than the Ridgecrest quakes in 2019. To help you get prepared, we've compiled a handy reading list:
Dodgers' outfielder Kyle Tucker celebrates in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds on Sept. 17, 2026. The Dodgers went on to win the game and clinch their fifth straight NL West title.
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Topline:
The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their fifth consecutive NL West division title and 13th in the 14 seasons, sparked by four hits from Kyle Tucker that included a first-inning home run in an 8-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday.
The backstory: The two-time World Series champions already were assured of their 14th straight postseason appearance, trying the record Atlanta set from 1991 to 2005. Los Angeles (93-60) had clinched no worse than a wild-card berth on Monday. Los Angeles opened a 9 1/2-game lead over second-place San Diego and has the second-best record in the NL as they try to overtake Milwaukee (95-57 entering Thursday) for the top NL seed. The division clinching was the fourth earliest for the Dodgers after Sept. 10 in 2019, Sept. 13 in 2022 and Sept. 16 in 2023.
What's next: With nine games to go in the regular season, the Dodgers return home to host a series against the San Francisco Giants on Friday at 7:10 p.m.
The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their fifth consecutive NL West division title and 13th in the 14 seasons, sparked by four hits from Kyle Tucker that included a first-inning home run in an 8-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday.
The two-time World Series champions already were assured of their 14th straight postseason appearance, trying the record Atlanta set from 1991 to 2005. Los Angeles (93-60) had clinched no worse than a wild-card berth on Monday.
Los Angeles opened a 9 1/2-game lead over second-place San Diego and has the second-best record in the NL as they try to overtake Milwaukee (95-57 entering Thursday) for the top NL seed. The division clinching was the fourth earliest for the Dodgers after Sept. 10 in 2019, Sept. 13 in 2022 and Sept. 16 in 2023.
Tucker fell a triple short of the cycle and had three RBIs, hitting a single and a pair of doubles. He hit his 16th homer, a two-run drive in the first off Brady Singer, who allowed seven runs, nine hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings.
Freddie Freeman’s sacrifice fly and Tucker’s RBI double boosted the lead in the second, and the Dodgers opened a 7-0 lead in the fourth on Max Muncy’s two-run double and Josue De Paula’s RBI single.
Dodger left-hander Justin Wrobleski, making his 22nd start this season and first since Sept. 6, did not allow a baserunner in three innings while striking out three.
Wrobleski and Blake Treinen combined to retire their first 11 batters before Sal Stewart’s 32nd homer.
Landon Knack (1-0) allowed four hits over four scoreless innings for his first big league win since May 31 last year.
Miguel Rojas homered off Brandon Williamson in the ninth.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said reliever Edwin Díaz (neck inflammation) finished his minor league injury rehabilitation assignment and will be activated this weekend.
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Gab Chabrán
covers what's happening in food and culture for LAist.
Published September 17, 2026 1:11 PM
More than a decade after it went viral, Keizo Shimamoto's ramen burger is back — and better than ever, he says.
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Topline:
Keizo Shimamoto, creator of the viral 2013 ramen burger, is quietly serving ramen out of a shared ghost kitchen in Irvine — no sign, no fanfare, just a phone number and an online order form.
More noodles please: The compact five-bowl menu ranges from a two-week-rested Signature Shoyu to the 13-ingredient Quiet Storm, alongside two versions of his famous burger. Business built organically through word of mouth before exploding after an L.A. Times feature — Shimamoto now moves close to 50 bowls of ramen and up to 25 burgers a day.
Why is it important? After a corporate layoff pushed him back into food full-time, Shimamoto is rebuilding on his own terms this time — deliberately low-key, close to home, and shaped by hard lessons from a shuttered Queens restaurant and a failed Orange County shop. It's less a comeback story than a craftsman finally in full control of the dish that made him famous.
While the name Keizo Shimamoto may not ring a bell, his most famous creation likely does — the ramen burger. In 2013, while slinging bowls at Smorgasburg in Brooklyn, Shimamoto swapped a bun for two ramen cakes, added a beef patty — and, almost overnight, became a viral sensation.
Now, more than a decade later, shaped by hard lessons from a shuttered Queens restaurant, a failed Orange County shop and a stint in the fintech industry, Shimamoto is back, quietly running a ramen operation out of a shared ghost kitchen in Irvine. It's deliberately low-key: there's barely a sign to let you know he's there, just the occasional social media post directing customers to an online order form.
A quiet return
Shimamoto Noodle opened in early August, and word of his return spread through word of mouth and social media before Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Bill Addison covered him in his Tasting Notes newsletter a few weeks later. Since then, business has kicked into a higher gear — Shimamoto said he's now averaging close to 50 bowls of ramen a day, plus another 20 to 25 burgers.
"I definitely wanted to do it at my own pace," said Shimamoto, who grew up in Orange County. "I knew eventually I would be found."
Keizo Shimamoto, creator of the viral ramen burger, stands in the kitchen at Shimamoto Noodle in Irvine.
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The menu
His offerings are compact by design: five bowls of ramen and two versions of his famous burger, ranging from $16 to $20. You can choose from the Signature Shoyu, the spiced Negi Shoyu, the Quiet Storm (a 13-ingredient gyokai-tonkotsu broth), Ganja-style tsukemen and a Taishoken-style dipping ramen called Shoyu Tsukesoba.
"I'm not so obsessed with making the best ramen in the world," Shimamoto said. "I'm just obsessed with being able to eat a great bowl every single day."
The signature shoyu is a clear, savory broth built on chintan, a light chicken stock blended with traditional dashi, niboshi-aroma oil infused with dried sardines, and a soy-based tare — the seasoning base that gives the broth its flavor. It arrives with thin house-made noodles, pork belly chashu, marinated bamboo shoots, spinach and scallions.
Shimamoto's Signature Shoyu ramen, topped with pork belly chashu, nori, spinach and a narutomaki fish cake.
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It looks simple. But the fat bubbles pooled on top of that first slurp say otherwise — the tare sits for days before a bowl is even assembled.
"I let it rest for two weeks to mature," Shimamoto said.
Sitting on the opposite end of the spectrum is the Quiet Storm, a thicker, more opaque 13-ingredient gyokai-tonkotsu broth. Shimamoto builds much of his ramen from memory, drawing on a 2009 research trip through 21 Japanese cities, where he ate 55 bowls of ramen in 28 days — a journey he documented on his blog, discovering how much the dish varies by region.
The Quiet Storm itself came from tweaking a tonkotsu-gyokai dipping soup he'd made in New York until it triggered a memory of a bowl he'd once had in Tokyo. "I just ran with that," he said.
He named it during his years running the original Ramen Shack in Queensbridge — home turf of the '90s hip-hop duo Mobb Deep, whose 1999 song "Quiet Storm" lent the bowl its name.
Customers eat outside Smart Kitchens, the shared commissary space in Irvine's Sky Park Business Center at the Smart Kitchen facility where Shimamoto Noodle operates.
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The Ramen Burger
The dish that put Shimamoto on the map was entirely his own: a beef patty in shoyu glaze, sandwiched between two house-made, seared noodle buns engineered to hold together when you bite in.
Its 2013 virality overshadowed Shimamoto's actual training as a ramen chef, and being known as "the ramen burger guy" used to bother him. He's since made peace with it — and used his added years of experience to improve the dish itself.
"I think right now the ramen burger is probably the best ramen burger that I've ever made, only because everything is controlled by me," he said. "I made the sauce from scratch, I make the noodles from scratch, I form the buns from scratch."
The sense of control and peace of mind Shimamoto describes extends beyond the food itself.
Eight minutes from his house, close to his parents and brothers, Shimamoto said it simply feels right.
"It feels good," he said. "It feels pretty right, right now."
Members of California's HOPE team participated in a resource fair at the state capital during Foster Care Awareness Month in May, when the program was launched. HOPE co-hosted the event with the California Department of Social Services.
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Topline:
In 2022, the state Legislature created the HOPE program to give thousands of dollars in seed money to eligible foster and COVID-bereaved youth to help with the transition to adulthood.
Why now: In May, four years after the state Legislature created the program, California finally launched it.
The backstory: The state Legislature created the accounts in 2022, during a budget-surplus year amid the pandemic. At the time, thousands of children were losing their parents to COVID-19, while California was also seeing high rates of foster youth aging out of the system and facing homelessness, advocates say.
What's next: So far, just over 650 young people have been approved for the accounts. They can use it for anything they want, giving them a sense of choice and freedom.
Unlike her friends, when Izel Casillas, 19, a sophomore at the University of California, Davis, moved into her first apartment, she did it without the support of her immediate family. She and her older sister had been in the foster care system since being removed from their home at ages 14 and 15.
This summer, however, Casillas learned she had been awarded $3,000 as part of a recently launched state program that provides money for longtime foster youth and low-income children who lost a parent due to the coronavirus.
For Casillas, the money came at a time when she needed it, she said, giving her a sense of control and financial support she hadn’t quite experienced before. “It does make you feel seen — makes you not feel as alone,” she said.
In May, four years after the program was first created by the state Legislature, California launched the Hope, Opportunity, Perseverance and Empowerment, or HOPE, for Children program. More than 56,000 young Californians are eligible for $3,000 in a trust account to use however they choose. The program was created to provide a safety net for two groups of young people who may enter adulthood without parental support.
For young people without parents or financial support, the first steps into adulthood often look different than they do for their peers, said AJ Johnson with the John Burton Advocates for Youth, an advocacy organization for foster and homeless youth.
“It looks like debt. It looks like homelessness,” Johnson said. “It looks like pausing school to take on work to get by. It looks like living in unsafe situations. And what this money means is that you can use it to get to safety [and] use it to be relieved of the burden of debt.”
Program provides $3,000 in seed money that can grow over time
The state Legislature created the accounts in 2022, during a budget-surplus year amid the pandemic. At the time, thousands of children were losing their parents to COVID-19, while California was also seeing high rates of foster youth aging out of the system and facing homelessness, advocates say.
Run by the state treasurer’s office, the program provides $3,000 in interest-bearing accounts to eligible young people. Foster youth qualify if they spend over 1 1/2 years in foster care, whether consecutive or not, or if their family reunification services are terminated. Low-income youth who lost a parent to COVID-19 contracted during the pandemic also qualify. They can access the funds between ages 18 and 26.
“So, the idea behind the HOPE account was to create a way for these youth, who are some of our most vulnerable in society, to be able to have some seed funding to start their life,” said Cassandra DiBenedetto, the acting executive director for HOPE.
Going deeper
HOPE recipients also have access to financial education and free confidential financial planning services with the accounts.
Youth under 18 on Sept. 27, 2022, when the law was enacted, who are longtime foster youth or low-income, COVID-19-bereaved youth are eligible.
Those not yet 18 who already qualify can apply for and open the account.
The money is not restricted to spending on college, career training, starting a business or buying a house, said Shimica Gaskins, president and CEO of the policy advocacy organization End Child Poverty California, which worked with the Legislature on creating the program. Young people can decide for themselves how to use the money based on what they most need, she said.
“There’s something very powerful about telling a child that this money is set aside for your future, and it belongs to you,” Gaskins said. “That’s more than money. It’s a message about their potential, about their opportunity. And that future doesn’t have to be tied to just four things.”
Although the program was signed into law in 2022, it took four years to launch. Some of that time was spent working to set up the program, since data on foster youth is private. Advocates and state officials also consulted national experts and young people about how the program should work. There were unforeseen delays as well.
The money is not automatically distributed to those who are eligible, and getting the word out is one of the program’s greatest challenges. Members of the HOPE team have promoted the accounts at foster youth resource fairs, through webinars with trained volunteers and court-appointed advocates and in conversations with dependency attorneys and probation officers.
HOPE has also partnered with community groups and schools, including the Youth Law Center, John Burton Advocates for Youth, organizations that conduct outreach to families affected by COVID-19, and youth programs at colleges and universities. The state Department of Social Services sent out an informational notice to counties so social workers and others would know about the program and how it works.
That’s how 20-year-old Nevaeh Williams, who recently aged out of foster care, learned of HOPE. Entering the foster care system at age 10, Williams was eligible because she remained in foster care, living with family members, until age 18.
For Williams, the application process was straightforward. She applied in June and got her approval email in August, within the 90-day window. She requested her disbursement in early September and is now waiting for the money to arrive, which should take about 30 days.
She’s had her own apartment since shortly after turning 18. By that time, she’d become a teen parent of two. She works as a certified nursing assistant in Los Angeles County while participating in a bridge program to become a registered nurse.
She plans to use the HOPE money to redecorate her 4-year-old daughter’s room and buy her 2-year-old son toys, blocks and flash cards.
“It’s like a relief because, day to day, for most people, it doesn’t just happen in a lump sum like that,” she said. “I pay basically $2,000 in rent, and I still have all these other side bills. I don’t just have a big lump sum at once to do stuff like that.”
‘Freedom’
Similar to other programs that provide free money to help young people, HOPE can be underutilized if there’s a lack of awareness or a new process to navigate.
So far, 2,243 applications have been submitted, and there have been over 650 approvals with more than $200,000 distributed. One young woman used the money as a down payment on a car, said HOPE’s DiBenedetto. Another used it to put a security deposit on an apartment.
Casillas at UC Davis plans to leave her $3,000 untouched and let it grow in the trust account — until she needs it.
“I’m not going to touch that money,” she said.
“It feels like a lot of freedom, but also with that, it helps you so much, especially with emergencies and anything you need — an apartment, rent, transportation, all of that. I think it’s an amazing feeling to know that I’m supported in that way.”
