JBAY’s advocacy was featured in numerous media outlets in the build-up to the passage of the state budget, effective July 1st.
JBAY Youth Advocate Emmerald Evans was featured in a KTVU news story on the importance of supporting foster youth during COVID-19. “Campuses have been closed. Students have to go home, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that foster youth have a home to go to,” she said.
The story also featured Assembly Member Phil Ting, who championed a key provision for foster youth in the state budget to prevent homelessness in high cost areas of the state, including San Francisco.
“We want to keep foster youth on a path to success. Otherwise, they become a permanent part of our caseload,” said Ting. “This is smart fiscally and it’s the right thing to do.”
In the San Jose Mercury News Executive Director Amy Lemley explained the challenges facing foster youth and the importance of allowing youth to voluntarily remain in extended foster care during COVID-19, “If their minimum needs can be covered, they can keep a leg up in higher education and can hold on until the economy returns,” Lemley said. “The odds are already stacked against them to graduate from high school and higher education, and yet they’re doing it.”
Additional coverage of JBAY’s advocacy was included in EdSource, the Chronicle for Social Change, WFMZ News, World and LA Progressive. For a full list of JBAY in the media, follow this link.