VOICES Sonoma provides young people aging out of foster care with family-like support, acceptance, and accountability as they set their own goals and pursue them across VOICES’ youth-led core programs: Health and Wellness, Career and Education, and ILP-Independent Living Program.

Many of the young people VOICES serves have suffered child abuse and neglect, and continue to experience trauma. VOICES’ approach to supporting youth is two-fold: with the youth at the center of the process, VOICES works with them on trauma-informed goal setting, and supports them as they learn to manage their trauma triggers so the triggers do not result in behaviors that get in the way of their goals, and so they are healthy and happy youth—ready to take on the world. 

With a strong focus on trauma-informed care, VOICES Sonoma maintains a Youth Engagement Model that empowers transition-age foster youth to design and implement programming themselves—cultivating leadership skills that will benefit them throughout their lives. 

Health and Wellness Program: provides a continuum of education, prevention, and intervention services, including case management, support groups, resource referrals, and crisis intervention. Advocates provide portions of core programming such as wellness workshops, fitness activities, and peer coaching. Co-located services such as counseling, health education, nutrition workshops, and food stamp application support also increase youths’ access to health care resources.

Career and Education Development Program: provides job readiness, placement, retention and financial literacy services, while ensuring the academic success of transition-age youth in secondary and post-secondary education. Youth transitioning from systems of care rarely receive college counseling during high school, nor do they tend to hold high aspirations for what might come after graduation. VOICES Sonoma encourages youth through each stage of their secondary and post-secondary educational experience, providing tutoring, scholarship support and college counseling.  In addition, VOICES Sonoma provides crucial employment support to youth who require comprehensive services and training in order to receive and maintain an adequate job. VOICES Sonoma provides assistance in financial planning, pre-employment skills, resume development, and interview coaching.

ILP – Independent Living Program: addresses a range of needs for current and former foster youth in order to prevent homelessness and develop trusted connections with others. Each participant develops a detailed MyLife Plan, meets regularly with an individual Life Skills Coach, and receives a combination of case management, drop-in services, workshops, events, and learning excursions. Youth are supported in identifying and obtaining housing, including placements in low-income affordable housing or subsidized housing programs. 

MyLife Conferences: MyLife Conferences place youth at the center of the planning process for youth who are ready to exit systems of care. VOICES staff partner with Sonoma County Family, Youth, and Children’s Division to administer MyLife Conferences, which provide life-planning conferences to youth ages 18 to 21 as they are emancipating from the foster care system.

Alchemy Project: VOICES Sonoma’s Alchemy Project is a comprehensive support program for youth experiencing severe mental health challenges that removes barriers to young people’s participation in mental health services by cultivating hope, relationships, stability and a sense of control over their lives. The goal of the Alchemy Project includes assisting youth in engaging and accessing appropriate mental health recovery programs, and, as applicable, obtaining a high school diploma or GED, stable housing, a source of income, a job and/or college attendance, supportive permanent relationships, and a plan for utilizing available community resources.