TAY Friends

Every young person deserves someone in their corner. For youth aging out of foster care, that person is often missing right when it matters most.

At 18, most young adults still have a parent to call when the car breaks down, a family dinner to land at when things go sideways, someone who just checks in. For young people transitioning out of foster care, that safety net often isn't there. They're expected to navigate apartments, jobs, and adulthood largely on their own, at an age when most of us were still leaning heavily on the people who raised us.

Reconcile Long Beach believes every young person deserves a caring adult who shows up, again and again, with no agenda but friendship.

That's what TAY Friends is. We connect trained, caring adults with young adults ages 18-21 who are current or former foster youth, pairing them for a year of monthly meetups and real relationship. It's not mentorship in the traditional sense, and it's not job training. It's someone to call after a hard day, someone to celebrate a win with, someone who lends a hand figuring out how to rent an apartment or navigate a tough conversation. It's community, built one relationship at a time.

This Long Beach Gives, we're raising funds to grow TAY Friends; training and supporting more mentors, covering the background clearances required to keep youth safe, and equipping each pair with what they need to build a relationship that lasts. This work is part of our Mobilize pillar, where we give caring adults a tangible way to walk alongside families and young people navigating the child welfare system.

A young person who has one adult consistently show up for them is more likely to finish school, hold a job, and avoid the instability that too often follows youth out of foster care. Your gift helps make sure more young adults in Long Beach have that person.

Will you help a young person know they're not doing this alone?