About YES

YES provides participating youth an array of comprehensive services, including career exploration, computer literacy training, job search preparation, remedial education, and life skills training. Youth are placed in paid internships that match their career interests

YES is more than a program—it is a network providing a variety of integrated services through one point of entry, with a diverse support system and a caring staff that treats participants with respect and empathy.

The vision behind the scenes
YES is a collaborative program with many years of community service in job training, foster care, and other areas. It is based on a unique holistic, wraparound services approach that addresses issues on an individual and systematic level. Several key aspects of YES have contributed to its success:

• Youth are actively involved in determining their individual goals and plans, which results in a sense of ownership and value to the youth, more personal investment in the program, and increased follow-through.
• Intensive case management, including ongoing, consistent one-on-one contact with case managers; a low participant-to-staff ratio; and a caring, knowledgeable, and culturally diverse staff.
• Maintaining strong relationships with partnering agencies to meet emergency needs.
• An open-door policy, consistent follow-up, and ongoing involvement with participants who have completed the program.

WHO YES serves

Funding sources and eligibility
Who may receive services from the YES Transition Network is determined by our sources of support. We are funded by grants from the San Diego Workforce Partnership through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA); the County of San Diego; and various foundations and corporations.

Current and former foster youth living in Central and North Central San Diego are automatically eligible for YES services. Other youth must be between the ages of 14 and 21, meet federal guidelines qualifying them as low-income, and reside either in the City of San Diego or in South County (i.e., National City, Chula Vista, San Ysidro, and Imperial Beach) to receive WIA-funded services.

The stats
San Diego County has over 7,500 children in the foster care system, approximately 300 of whom emancipate annually. Reports provided to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors state that only 65% of youth transitioning out of the San Diego foster care system receive a high school diploma or GED, compared with 85% of the general population. Additionally, statistics show that 40% of youth will become homeless within the first year they are emancipated from the system.

Furthermore, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, compared to youth who have not been in the child welfare system, foster youth are:

• More likely to be involved in the criminal justice system
• At a higher risk of teen pregnancy and parenting
• More likely to have lower academic skills and high school graduation rates
• More likely to have disproportionately high rates of physical, developmental, and mental health problems
• More likely to have less emotional and financial support

Turning lives around
YES focuses specifically on the needs of foster care youth who are in need of intervention to avoid becoming part of these statistics. It is estimated that in order to survive in San Diego—one of the ten most expensive places to live in the United States—a person would have to earn about $14.00 per hour. To earn this wage, youth need the education and skills to get and keep a job. That’s where YES comes in. YES works with more than 300 foster care youth in San Diego County to help them overcome educational and employment obstacles and prepare for a life of self-sufficiency and contribution to the community.

What YES provides – work readiness and life skills

Work readiness
Work readiness training provides youth ages 14-21 with the “soft skills” required by employers, including interpersonal communication skills, attendance, professional appearance, problem solving, adaptability, and teamwork.
Job shadow experiences are offered as part of career exploration. Job shadows are unpaid short-term opportunities offered by employers who agree to engage a student to follow or “shadow” them throughout their workday. This experience provides insight on the duties and skills of the position, as well as information on career tracks in the industry.

YES also offers school-to-career awareness activities that teach youth about more highly skilled workplace opportunities in diverse industries and occupations rather than typical part-time jobs available to teen workers. Participants spend more time learning and practicing transferable skills related to their expressed career interest than doing repetitive labor that does not lead to marketable skills. These experiences result in improved attitude toward future employment, as well as better-defined career goals and a realistic understanding of what is required to achieve those goals.

Paid internships provide on-the-job practice in conjunction with school or skills training. Youth earn academic credit and/or wages while getting real-world work experience in their area of career interest. Internships are typically for limited periods of time (usually 120 hours) and include guidance, supervision, and evaluation. For youth who are out of school, internships ideally lead to full- or part-time jobs that provide wages and health care benefits.

Life skills
Independent living skills (ILS) are a required component of foster care curriculum for all youth, whether they are placed in group homes, with foster families, or in institutional care. To build on this, YES incorporates independent living skills from the standpoint of work readiness, basic education, and computer skills.

By integrating ILS components into YES programs, skills that were already learned – such as interpersonal communication, budgeting and money management, grocery shopping, consumer topics, stress management, and problem solving – are reviewed and reinforced. This review also enables us to evaluate each youth’s specific needs. When a participant needs more personal, targeted, or more intensive attention, it is addressed through the case manager on an individual basis.