At The Village Family Services, our mission has always been to protect children, preserve families, and build brighter futures—especially for young people navigating homelessness, foster care, and systemic inequities. That work takes compassion, commitment, and collaboration—and on May 12, our inaugural webinar brought all of that into focus!
Rebuilding Hope: Funding Strategies for Unhoused Youth in Los Angeles’ Evolving Landscape brought together leaders from across sectors, including Justin Lee (Casey Family Programs); Kimberly Roberts (LA Family Housing); Amy Perkins (Office of Supervisor Lindsey Horvath); and our youth panelist Yhani Abbott.
We also had the honor of opening remarks from Sixto Cancel (Think of Us), whose powerful message set the tone for everything that followed: “When systems fail, it is nonprofits that step in… Every single day, there are families and young people who are waking up, who are going to need to pick up the phone and have someone on that other end supporting them.”
Throughout the hour, we heard a recurring theme: the solutions we need already exist. They’re in the experiences, voices, and leadership of young people who have lived through housing instability and are telling us what works.
Youth Voices Leading the Way
As moderator Olga Flores, our Senior Director of Housing Services, shared at the top of the hour, The Village leads the Youth Coordinated Entry System (YCES) for the San Fernando Valley and Service Planning Area 2—a role that ensures young people are connected to housing, support, and safety through a “no wrong door” approach.
For youth like Yhani, that connection is everything. She described the emotional toll of being turned away for housing over and over—sometimes due to credit score, sometimes income, always urgency unmet. “There were times I applied to many places and I was just a little off… and it resulted in a denial. That’s really discouraging for people who need a place to stay as soon as possible.”
Now, through The Village’s transitional housing program, she’s secured housing, completed surgical technician training, passed her state exam, and is working toward full independence. Stories like hers remind us that support systems work when they’re designed with care.
As Kimberly Roberts put it:
“Ending youth homelessness means more than crisis response—it means permanent housing, jobs without preconditions, childcare, and income programs that actually meet people where they are.”
From Policy to Practice: The Fight for Funding
If there’s one story that defines this moment, it’s the recent restoration of $5.6 million in Measure A funding for TAY services in LA County. As Amy Perkins shared, that victory didn’t come from a lobbying campaign or political maneuvering—it came from youth: “The funding that was restored for the youth—I can’t overstate this. It only happened because youth and youth providers showed up. The youth far outnumbered the providers, and that made all the difference.” Their coordinated advocacy, personal storytelling, and persistence made this funding possible. It’s a playbook we need to keep following.
What Gives You Hope?
At the end of the conversation, we asked each panelist what gives them hope. Without hesitation, every single one pointed to the same thing: young people. “We expect the population that’s struggling the most to be superheroes,” said Justin Lee. “We expect small nonprofits to solve the problem without the support or flexibility to do it. That has to change.”
There’s no shortage of insight or innovation coming from youth with lived experience. The challenge is for systems—funders, providers, policymakers—to shift power, act with urgency, and truly listen.
Final Thoughts
This conversation reminded us that our job isn’t to reinvent solutions—it’s to fund, implement, and protect the ones youth already know will work. From Sixto Cancel to our partners and panelists, the call was clear: build systems that reflect reality, not just policy.
To everyone who joined us—thank you. To Arthur Gallagher and Valley Community Healthcare, thank you for your sponsorship and continued support.
