Program Description:

Transitional Youth Academy (TYA) empowers high school youth from low-income households, and their families to close the opportunity gaps by providing intensive student engagement, academic support, and access to comprehensive wrap-around services in the North San Diego County region. With funding from the Rancho Santa Fe Women’s Fund, TYA committed to empowering approximately 50 youth enrolled in El Camino High School in Oceanside to achieve their academic and career goals, as well as provide families with a pathway toward self-sufficiency. This is accomplished by providing them with access to intensive one-on-one mentoring, case management and peer group support as well as increasing their leadership skills and providing complete workforce development training.

Results:

During the grant period, Interfaith TYA program supported 65 youth, 51 of whom completed workforce development training and 20 of whom were seniors. Through students’ interactions and participation in the program, they strengthened their sense of identity, belief in the future, self-regulation, and self-efficiency as well as their social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral competence. When families engaged in the program this ensured that the household was also self-sufficient leading to a stronger, more secure, family unit with a solid foundation for the growth and success of all family members.

Future Plans:

Interfaith Community Services has a long-standing partnership with the Oceanside Unified School District (OUSD) for the TYA program and will continue to do so. TYA currently operates on the El Camino High School campus and will expand to Oceanside High School for the 2022-23 school year. A component of Interfaith’s Strategic Plan for 2022 through 2025 is to sustain and expand its TYA program each school year. Interfaith is committed to expanding to one additional school site each school year for the years of 2022-2025. Interfaith has secured funding for the TYA program for the upcoming year from a wide variety of community sources.  This will allow TYA a serve over 100 students during the 2022-2023 school year. The program has secured funding to continue its workforce development program which will provide paid summer internship for 30 to 60 students throughout the school year and over the summer of 2023. Additionally, the added locations allow TYA to enhance its partnerships with local colleges and universities as now more occupational and behavioral therapy interns may join the program.