“The hardest part of aging out was molding myself to self-independence. Learning to go look for jobs, that was the big thing, looking for houses, I’m still thrown for a loop on that. Looking for jobs, basically figuring out where I’m going to lay my head at…those were the two things I knew I had to get up on ASAP. When I aged out I stayed in my car, lived at a friend’s house, and I was homeless for 4 months. I didn’t like it. I always told myself that I put myself in this situation, but I still didn’t like it one bit.”

The Hope Center helps our participants find the safe, stable housing they deserve upon aging out so that these young people can continue to focus on their education, employment and their health–all essential pieces to being able to live independent, healthy lives.