Aging out of foster care increases a person’s risk of homelessness. About a third of homeless young adults came from the system. Many spend at least one night in the streets during the first year of transitioning out.
That’s why A Sense of Home’s (ASOH) advocacy and work is laudable. This Hawthorne, California-based nonprofit helps former foster children have stability and dignity when standing independently, increasing their chances of keeping the roofs above their heads. Aged-out foster youth generally have no helpful relatives who assist them in transitioning into independent living. Understanding this reality, this charitable organization uses its resources to help these vulnerable individuals secure a Section 8 housing choice voucher, get a rent subsidy and transform an empty apartment into a home.
Support for a Future Social Worker
Twenty-five-year-old Jamie was one of the thousands of people ASOH has helped across Los Angeles County since its foundation in 2015. She was studying to be a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Aside from touching disenfranchised children’s lives, pursuing this career allows her to extend emotional support to people experiencing life challenges for whom she has a soft spot.
While continuing her education, she was a fortunate beneficiary of the charity’s Home Creation. Palisades High School ASOH Club members and their families were responsible for furnishing Jamie’s space. Some Pay-It-Forward alumni — previous ASOH Home Creation recipients, like Julisa, Ezekial and Lexly — also volunteered to pass on the act of kindness they received to fellow foster youth. They came together to build a sense of community, remind her she wasn’t alone and boost her mental health.
While the volunteers were busy, Jamie created a vision board to remind herself of her dreams for her first home. She also included powerful affirmations to give her strength in her moments of weakness and prevent setbacks from bringing her down. After 90 minutes of outfitting Jamie’s apartment with furniture and other home essentials, the volunteers wrote her words of encouragement and left them in a love jar.
Like most people on home makeover shows, Jamie was overjoyed when she saw the finished product. She was elated to finally have a proper bed to sleep in, a desk to work from and bowls to eat out of. That moment marked the beginning of the rest of her life.
Although Jamie’s home wouldn’t be possible without help from others, she could finally claim her space as her own. She could move forward in life with her head held high without letting her traumatic upbringing dictate her future.
From Chance to Choice
ASOH’s story started as a random act of kindness to a stranger. In 2014, Georgie Smith — the charity’s founder — volunteered at a nonprofit for aged-out foster youth. One of them saw a video of her designing a space for a friend and asked if she could help him with his place.
Georgie’s parents raised her to be a force for good, so she responded positively. She visited the young man’s first apartment and was aghast when she discovered he was living on the floor and keeping his belongings in black garbage bags.
With her limited resources, she went on social media and asked anyone who wanted to share hand-me-downs with him, risking being ignored and crushed from getting no reaction from people. Thankfully, her plea was productive. Her friends offered to help move the donations to the man’s apartment to create a safe and nurturing space where he could feel secure.
The owner of the first home Georgie worked on shared his blessing on social media, sparking the curiosity of his fellow aged-out foster youth who were in the same boat. They approached Georgie and asked if it was a new service a nonprofit provided — it wasn’t. She looked around, hoping to find a charity that could care for their needs. She found none and decided to do the work herself.
The rest is history. As of May 2024, ASOH had created more than 900 homes for more than 2,000 aged-out foster youth and their children through the help of nearly 22,000 volunteers. Georgie may have been named a Top 10 CNN Hero for 2016, but she knows her organization can’t save all young adults from homelessness alone. That’s why she’s open to licensing her homeless prevention model worldwide, empowering other nonprofits to replicate ASOH’s success.
A Sense of Home — Creating First Homes for Aged-Out Foster Youth
ASOH has made a difference in thousands of lives, but Georgie knows her mission is far from over. As long as there are former foster youth who struggle to maintain housing stability and are at risk of becoming homeless, she and her compassionate volunteers won’t age out of this cause.
That’s why A Sense of Home’s (ASOH) advocacy and work is laudable. This Hawthorne, California-based nonprofit helps former foster children have stability and dignity when standing independently, increasing their chances of keeping the roofs above their heads.
