Sarah Pauter is the Executive Director of John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY), where she leverages both personal and professional expertise to advance the organization’s mission of improving the lives of youth and young adults who have experienced foster care or homelessness.
Before stepping into this role, Sarah served as a Senior Project Manager at JBAY, leading efforts to strengthen policies that support foster and homeless youth in higher education. Prior to joining JBAY, she was a dedicated advocate in San Diego County, where she founded a nonprofit to serve the unique needs of expectant and parenting youth involved in public systems.
Sarah’s leadership and expertise led to her appointments on key local and state advisory bodies, including the San Diego Juvenile Justice Commission, the Special Working Group on Child Welfare, the Child and Family Strengthening Advisory Board, and the Children’s System of Care Council. She also contributed to statewide initiatives focused on reducing the overuse of psychotropic medications and expanding access to holistic mental health services for foster youth through Katie A. reform efforts.
A former foster youth, Sarah emancipated from the child welfare system before earning a Bachelor’s in Social Work from San Diego State University and a Master’s in Public Policy from Northwestern University. Her leadership is driven by lived experience, a deep passion for youth advocacy, and a commitment to creating systemic change.
John Burton Advocates for Youth improves the quality of life for youth in California who have been in foster care or homeless by advocating for better laws, training communities to strengthen local practices and conducting research to inform policy solutions.
