In 2024, 15,020 young people in the United States aged out of foster care. Each of them reached a birthday, and the system that had housed and fed them stepped back.
Think about what that day asks of an 18 year old. Find a place to live. Find the money for a deposit. Locate a birth certificate and a Social Security card, because every job and every lease will ask for them. Do all of it without a parent to call.
Most of these young adults are capable and ready to work. What they lack is time and a safety net. A young person with family can make a mistake, move back home and try again. A young person leaving care gets one attempt.
The results are predictable. 26% experience homelessness between ages 19 and 21. By 21, 22% have no diploma, certificate or license, and 41% are not working.
I started Prime Village™ because I believe these numbers describe a gap in support and say nothing about the talent of the young people behind them. Give a young adult a stable place to live, a skill an employer will pay for and people who know their name, and the outcome changes.
That is the work. We begin in Georgia in 2027 with our first 25 Villagers.
Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation, KIDS COUNT Data Center.