2021 DPSS Annual Report Online_FINAL

Annual Report 2020/2021

Children’s Services

How Our Partnerships Serve Children & Youth in Riverside County Trusted partnerships with organizations, various professionals, faith-based leaders, businesses, and others allow us to expand our level of service to children and youth who need our help.

Nevaeh Hall is one of five foster youth in Riverside County who graduated in 2021 with support from mentors with Project Graduate.

Helping Foster Youth Turn Diplomas into Dreams with Project Graduate

For the past decade, Project Graduate has helped some of the county’s most at-risk foster youth change the trajectory of their lives through advocacy and mentorship. Participating youth are supported by volunteers from the Riverside County Bar Association alongside members of the Superior Court, Juvenile Defense Panel, Office of County Counsel and DPSS. Since its beginning, Project Graduate has been a stepping stone to community college, trade school and universities

for at least 36 graduates and an even broader path to employment opportunities and brighter futures for many youth who entered the program. “We have learned from our students how hard it is for them to envision a path to graduating,” said Brian Unitt, a Riverside attorney who has chaired the Project Graduate steering committee for the past 10 years. “This program helps change that perception about what is possible.”

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