Orangewood Mentoring Program Activities Project
The JLOCC in partnership with the Orangewood Children’s Foundation provides educational workshops geared towards life skills issues/topics for foster youth ages 15-23 in the Orangewood Mentoring Programs. Currently its third year, the JLOCC’s project hosts 8-10 workshops each year that explore such topics as choosing a career, interviewing/resume writing skills, personal finance, etc. The JLOCC also holds 1-2 workshops per year that focuses on higher education preparedness and navigating the higher education process.
Florence Crittenton Services Project
The JLOCC has partnered with Florence Crittenton Services to assist with the Connect Program to help promote and foster long-term mentoring relationships with the young women it serves. The Connect Program, which began over 12 years ago, has volunteers visit the same cottage residents on a regular basis. By the time adolescent girls are transferred to Crittenton Services, they are in dire need of positive role models, healthy relationships and trust. Providing volunteers to consistently interact with these girls on a regular basis is an important part of their development. The JLOCC plans monthly activities and a holiday celebration to help the girls establish a sense of holiday tradition. The JLOCC also organizes several drives during the year to collect items of need for the Florence Crittenton programs.
CHOC Reading Program
CHOC Clinics’ solution to this problem is an established literacy program called CHOCO’s (Children’s Hospital of Orange County- Orange) Reading Club. It is based on the National Literacy Program called Reach Out and Read. Children who come to CHOC for well-child examinations are automatically enrolled in CHOCO’s Reading Club. Open to children ages 6 months to 6 years, this exciting new program provides a brand-new book at a well-visit to encourage a love of books and reading and to help boost reading skills. Doctors use the books provided as teaching tools for the child during the exam and also speak with parents regarding the importance of reading daily with their child. JLOCC Members will be working hands-on in the waiting areas of CHOC by reading aloud to patients and also engaging parents on reading with their children. The JLOCC will support CHOC’s staff to revitalize, expand, and sustain the existing literacy program by creating and implementing a volunteer recruitment plan; broadening the program to include all CHOC off-site locations and assisting in building the Reading Program’s library. The JLOCC is also planning a Reading Day event.
CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates) Emancipated Youth Program
Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Orange County is dedicated to giving a voice, hope and a future to the community’s most disadvantaged children: the abused, abandoned and neglected children living in Orange County’s foster care system. Established in 1985 as a project of the JLOCC, their mission is to provide quality advocacy for children through a unique, one-on-one relationship between a trained and supervised court-appointed volunteer and an abused, abandoned or neglected child. The JLOCC is partnering with CASA again to work with children who have turned 18 and are emancipated from the foster care system. CASA and the JLOCC realize that these struggling teens face their greatest challenges after they emancipate and their volunteer advocates also still need significant support from CASA as they help these youths with the transition. CASA and the JLOCC’s goal is to enhance the support and resources currently provided to youth before emancipation, while also developing a program that will continue that support post-emancipation. Monthly training sessions for youth and volunteer advocates will be planned as well as working with local employers to find employment resources and opportunities for transitioning youths, and a support system between emancipated youths and volunteer advocates will be established so they can communicate between meetings and training sessions.
Orangewood Kinship Project
In partnership with the Orangewood Children’s Foundation, the JLOCC will work to help develop a program devoted to providing support for foster youth placed in the homes of relative caregivers. At present, a kinship service does not exist in Orange County; however, currently 60% of the children taken out of their homes are with relative caregivers such as aunts, uncles, grandparents, older siblings, etc. The Kinship program under the Orangewood Children’s Foundation, supported by the JLOCC, will address the unique needs of each caregiver and child by providing referrals to basic services, a support system of other caregivers and a break from daily stresses. Relative caregivers often have special needs linked to age, poverty, poor health, social isolation, and inadequate access to information and services.
Impact Orange County
Impact Orange County responds to immediate needs in the community by researching and implementing "done-in-a-day" projects and events within the JLOCC focus areas.
Bear Hugs
Supporting Emancipated Teens In Orange County
Bear Hugs, a project of the Sustainer Members of the JLOCC, reaches out to teenagers emancipating from Orange County's foster care system. Approximately 300 teens emancipate each year and many of these teens lack the support system to help them finish high school and plan their future. Bear Hugs provide these emancipated teens a collection of items to ease the transition to independent living. Bear Hugs supplies the "bare necessities:" a duffel bag filled with essentials such as toiletries, towel sets and a blanket, stationery supplies, an inspirational book, phone cards, maps, flashlights and alarm clocks and includes a list of resource agencies and programs. The Orangewood Children's Foundation is the liaison for Bear Hugs through their Independent Living Program. The goal of Bear Hugs is to have a duffel filled with these essentials available for every teen at the time they emancipate.
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