BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — May is National Foster Care Awareness Month and the Kern County Board of Supervisors recently approved funding for the TAY Self-Sufficiency Project at the Kern County Superintendent of School’s Dream Center.
TAY stands for transitional age youth. The program focuses on helping foster youth ages 16 to 24 avoid or get out of homelessness.
Staff provide services for a range of things like substance abuse, mental health, employment and more.
Prevention specialist Bryanna Wood said it’s all about that one-on-one support.
"A thing that the Dream Center prides itself on is that special kind of engagement where it’s [not], 'Oh, well here’s these papers. Fill them out.' We’re working with the youth. We say all the time, we’re their people," said Wood. "They come in. We have the staff on site. We're able to sit down with them, help them fill out those resumes, do mock job interviews with them, make sure that they’re prepared for life.”
The new funding will make all those services possible and help the center with more staffing.
Anyone can refer a foster youth to the program. Just bring them to the Dream Center and social workers will be there ready to help.
"We wouldn’t be able to do the work that we do without the support of all our different partners. [It] works so well because of the collaboration," said Wood. "That's what we do. We collaborate with the community. We make sure that we’re doing whatever it takes to protect the children and the youth in our county.”
The center is always taking donations. You can find their wishlist here.
