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Impact Aug 21, 2024
From left, PCF's Jeannine Bogaard joins First Place for Youth Executive Director Thomas Lee; Steven Gibson, PCC Board of Trustees vice president; Heritage Housing Partners Executive Director Charles Loveman; U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena; PCC student and First Place for Youth participant Myh’Keith L.; and Pasadena Councilwoman Felicia Williams at the Aug. 7 ribbon-cutting. | Photo courtesy of the Pasadena Community Foundation
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A new housing facility for six college students transitioning from foster care opened in Pasadena earlier this month, a local charity said Wednesday.
The Pasadena Community Foundation hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Aug. 7 that was attended by local elected officials and community members to inaugurate the new six-unit complex of furnished apartments.
Pasadena City College will cover the students’ first five years of rent, which marks PCC’s first-ever formal partnership to provide students with housing.
“This project brings together so many of PCF’s priorities. It demonstrates what partnerships can accomplish for our young people and the impact it can have on our whole community,” PCF Director of Community Impact Jeannine Bogaard said in a statement. “It is a proud day for PCF to see this housing open and know that we’ve been with the project from inception to completion.”
The project began in early 2022 when foundation representatives toured a site on Foothill Boulevard in east Pasadena with Charles Loveman, executive director of Heritage Housing Partners. Loveman, with support for the project from Pasadena Housing Department Director Bill Huang, was in the process of purchasing the property with two existing structures to transform it into housing for transition-age foster youth.
“This project offered several compelling opportunities for PCF,” Bogaard said. “We provided $200,000 to support property renovations, and we also leveraged our strong relationships with nonprofits and city officials to convene the right partners and find additional avenues of support.”
The project continued to evolve over the next two years, according to Bogaard. The foundation connected developer Heritage Housing Partners with First Place for Youth, a nonprofit that provides programs and services for 18- to 24-year-olds from the foster care system transitioning into adulthood.
First Place for Youth selected six program participants to move into the new housing complex where residents will receive wrap-around services on-site.
According to an August 2024 RAND Corp. report, time spent within the foster care system increases a person’s risk of being homeless. Recent studies also show that ex-foster youth in community colleges have the highest rates of homelessness or housing insecurity throughout the state’s public post-secondary education systems.
“Guests at the (ribbon-cutting) ceremony only had to look next door to imagine the next phase of this project,” foundation officials said.
Heritage Housing Partners intends to refurbish an adjacent property to house an additional nine transition-age students.
“PCF is excited about the phase 2 expansion and hopes to continue our work with the current partners,” according to the foundation.
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