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The Latin American Youth Center’s Teen Bridge Program (TBP) strives to promote stability and independence for female youth 16-21 years of age, referred by Child and Family Services (CFSA), by providing them with staff support 24 hours a day in a safe, culturally competent, group home setting. The Teen Bridge Program provides these girls with a home-like environment while offering a wide array of life skills and access to services that will prepare them for self-sufficiency.

Approximately 3,000 young people are currently in the care of the District of Columbia’s Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) and placed in foster care facilities outside their homes. These individuals enter the foster care system following events that warrant their removal from an unsafe home. The circumstances surrounding such events often take the form of neglect, abuse, or abandonment. CFSA places these young people in a variety of settings ranging from individual foster families to group homes or independent living programs.

The LAYC’s Teen Bridge Program combines aspects of both the group home and independent living model to form the TBP. The TBP aims to provide older adolescents with the tools they need to succeed in adulthood. Through the provision of 24-hour staffing in a home like environment, the TBP focuses on teaching all of the life skills necessary for these youth to live self-sufficient lives. The TBP houses 6 females from 16 to 21 years of age and provides bilingual staff for Spanish speaking youth.

Services Offered

Spanish and English services are offered to the youth to reflect the work of these different staff members, and include:

• Safe and stable home environment;
• Case planning & goal setting;
• Educational & leadership development;
• Pre and post assessments; and
• Life skills training.

All TBP youth can also take advantage of all the other resources that the LAYC has to offer such as: work skills, education enhancement, and a full array of social services, recreational activities as well as art & media training.

Criteria for Admission into TBP

• Currently in care of CFSA;
• Referred to TBP by CFSA;
• Female between the age of 16-21;
• Admission interview with CFSA Social Worker, TBP Program Coordinator and TBP Case Manager;
• Commitment to observe TBP and CFSA rules and regulations;
• Desire to succeed and take advantage of the resources that TBP will provide; and
• Not in danger of harming oneself or others.

Program Details

The overarching goal of the TBP is to provide more than shelter, food, case management, job development and life skills training. By promoting stability, providing a positive environment and offering staff that serves as mentors, the various aspects of a young person’s development towards adulthood can be addressed. Upon graduation from the TBP either at age 21 or earlier- depending on an individual’s development, the resident should have the necessary skills to acquire her own housing and begin to lead a self sufficient adult life. By linking these young women to positive support networks and offering these services, the TBP aims to prepare these young women to play positive roles in the development of their community.

Contact Information

Please call Liz Wolfe at 202.319.2047 for more details.