In Los Angeles County, more than 17,000 children currently reside in homes not with their biological parents. They are in foster care, group homes or living with relatives. Nationwide, that number is around 435,000. Many of these children and teenagers are cycled within the foster care system, moving from home to home. Trying to get an education, much less graduate and go off to college, can be a challenge.
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One L.A. community college has a program that helps young people transition out of the foster care system. The goal is to support former foster youth to achieve success in college and beyond. It’s called REACH — Reaching, Empowering, Achieving & Completing with Heart — and it currently serves about 300 students.
My colleague Jackie Orchard spoke with students who are a part of this program at Mt. San Antonio College about what this program has done for them. These students get wrap-around support through mentoring, specialized counselors, life skills classes and a whole lot more.
Dani Lima is a graduate of the program and now works for it as student services support specialist.
“I never had anybody to be interested in what was happening with me or even cared where I was at or if I was safe,” Lima said. “I didn't have anybody else asking me that kind of stuff or inviting me to things for the holidays. But REACH always did."
Read Jackie’s story to learn more about former foster care youth like Lima, who have been helped by Mt. Sac’s REACH program. Check it out here.
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Back when I was a kid, my family and I would have sit-down family dinners every Sunday. We would all gather around a huge dining room table, eat and chat about our lives in communion with each other. A lot of things have changed over the years with my family dynamic — deaths, graduations and other new beginnings have impacted those Sunday dinners.
I am sure many of you can relate. Many of you reading this newsletter have probably moved away from your families, and your mama's homecooked meals, to the sprawling, big city.
Moving during the pandemic surely didn’t make it easier to be far away from home. But one fascinating concept has emerged in L.A. because of it: supper clubs.
Lina Abascal wrote about four supper clubs where you get to actually sit down, eat a meal with people who may also be new to L.A. She got to explore these lockdown-bred supper clubs to see what they’re all about.
At the Asi Asi Project Supper Club in Boyle Heights, they have themed meals which also include speakers, performances and conversations with experts. They’ve had 21 dinner parties since starting in January. Here’s what the founder Sana Keefer had to say:
“I think post-pandemic, some of us want more connectivity than what many traditional restaurants aim to offer. Our goal is to be a platform for emerging talent, an incubator for new ideas and new collaborations.”
Read about all of these exciting, appetizing supper clubs in Abascal’s story.
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