John Burton Advocates for Youth

We help foster youth across the state achieve their higher education goals and move on to fulfilling careers by engaging institutions to work together, sharing best practices, and advocating for policies that support foster youth in higher education. We aim to reduce homelessness among current and former foster youth in California by constantly working to improve access to safe, affordable and supportive housing through the development of policy and technical assistance. We work through advocacy, collaboration and training to ensure that all foster youth in care have access to the necessary physical and mental health services that are vital to their well-being and success.

John Burton Advocates for Youth works to improve the rate of college enrollment, retention and degree completion among current and former foster youth through a variety of strategies:

INCREASE ACCESS TO LAPTOPS FOR YOUTH AFFECTED BY COVID-19 RELATED SCHOOL CLOSURES
Many foster youth do not have access to a laptop or computer during the COVID-19 lockdown. With California moving all classes online, thousands of foster youth are in danger of being forced to drop out of college. John Burton Advocates for Youth is working with iFoster to provide laptops, and internet access, at no charge to foster youth in college.

INCREASE ACCESS TO FINANCIAL AID FOR FOSTER YOUTH
The California Foster Youth FAFSA Challenge, launched by John Burton Advocates for Youth in collaboration with the California Department of Education in the fall of 2017, is a statewide campaign to increase the number of foster youth who are prepared for success as they matriculate from high school into college by ensuring that foster youth are accessing financial aid. Counties around the state are taking the challenge!

DEVELOP CAMPUS SUPPORT PROGRAMS
John Burton Advocates for Youth works with community colleges, California State Universities and University of California campuses to establish special programs on their campuses to serve current and former foster youth. Specifically, the organization trains campus personnel on the core elements of successful campus support programs, including how to structure services for students, how to use data to improve program outcomes, how to build support for the program among faculty and administration and how to attract direct investment from the university or college into the program. Follow this link to visit our website dedicated to improve college outcomes for foster youth, which includes a searchable statewide database of campus support programs in California.

REMOVE POLICY BARRIERS TO COLLEGE ACHIEVEMENT
John Burton Advocates for Youth works with the state legislature to pass legislation that improves outcomes for foster youth. Key legislative victories include the creation of publicly funded campus support programs (SB 1023), the creation of priority registration for foster youth (SB 906) and the expansion of the Chafee Education and Training Voucher in the state budget. Most recently, John Burton Advocates for Youth successfully advocated for the expansion of the Cal Grant Program for foster youth (SB940).

PROVIDE TEXTBOOKS
Since 2013, John Burton Advocates for Youth has provided $1.9 million in textbooks to over 7,700 current and former foster youth who attend college on 98 campuses in California through our Burton Book Fund.

John Burton Advocates for Youth works on behalf of current and former foster youth and homeless youth in three issue areas: education, housing and health. Much of this work is conducted through projects led by the organization, or that we collaborate with our partners on. JBAY is a member of the Step Up Coalition and is co-sponsoring legislation to ensure that California’s child welfare system is child-centered and responsive to the needs and circumstances of the families stepping up to care for children in foster care.

STRENGTHENED THE SAFETY NET FOR FOSTER YOUTH (2020)
Strengthened the safety net for foster youth in high cost counties by successfully advocating for the creation of a supplemental payment for youth living in transition housing.

PROTECTED FOSTER YOUTH DURING COVID-19 (2020)
Protected foster youth during COVID-19 by successfully advocating for foster youth to be authorized to remain in foster care after age 21, until June 30, 2021.

EXPANDED ACCESS TO CALIFORNIA’S LARGEST FINANCIAL AID PROGRAM, THE CAL GRANT (2018)
Expanded eligibility for the program for foster youth from a maximum of four to eight years and securing a $5.3 million annual budget allocation.

PREVENTED TEEN PREGNANCY AMONG FOSTER YOUTH
Advocated for the inclusion of access to reproductive health care in the foster care bill of rights and requiring the State of California to track the number of pregnancy and parenting foster youth for the first-time (2013).