Parents by Choice: Nonprofit Helps Foster Youth With Jobs & Housing

Story and photos by Jo Ann Kirby

The whimsical St. Patrick’s Day window display at Main Street Gifts was so creative that it won first place in the Downtown Stockton Alliance’s decorating contest. Sierrafina Ybarra and her coworker’s handiwork featured a leprechaun, pot of gold and a beautiful rainbow.

The two coworkers are among 20 young people learning valuable job skills thanks to a nonprofit program located at Courthouse Plaza in downtown Stockton.
Tony Yadon, chief executive officer of Parents by Choice, said the nonprofit organization started in 2006 as a foster services agency to care for the needs of youth in the child welfare system but has since evolved into so much more. Beginning in 2011, the foster care agency began to expand to help vulnerable children and families with a myriad of services.

Today, in addition to screening and training foster families, Parents by Choice offers mental health services, provides housing for former foster youth through their transitional housing program, provides no-cost parenting classes to anyone who is interested, offers therapeutic foster care services and operates the Youth Workforce Development Program that employs and trains 19-year-old Sierrafina. It all takes place at the Courthouse Plaza on Main Street in downtown Stockton, which Parents by Choice acquired during the COVID-19 pandemic. The building houses Parents by Choice administrative offices on the top floor and businesses on the bottom two levels.

Expanded Services
When foster youth age out of the system, they can be even more at risk. The job training, work experience and housing assistance will all play a major role in offering these young people the stability they need to provide for themselves and make plans for their future.

As the organization grew, Tony said they saw there was so much more that could be done to support foster youth and help them succeed as they reach adulthood. It all adds up to a social enterprise that is using commercial strategies to address social challenges and impact change.

To that end, Parents by Choice operates several of its own businesses including Main Street Gifts, Plaza Perks, the Kitchen at Plaza Perks and the Underground Arcade. Other businesses at the indoor mall include Martinez Tailor Shop, Makers Made, T Bagel Café, Fashion Safari Boutique and more. Most of the businesses employ young people ages 16 to 30 from Parents by Choice’s workforce development program.

“We initially started our workforce development program to our foster youth because no one was hiring them,” Stefanie Iaccino, director of community engagement for Parents by Choice, said. The program has expanded to include not just foster youth but anyone ages 16 to 30 who is a Stockton resident and has been in the welfare system.

Providing Opportunities
Alyssa Castellanos spent time in foster care and has seen firsthand the transformative impact that Parents by Choice aims to have on those it serves. At one point she was homeless and the organization helped her with both housing and employment. She is now the proud manager of Plaza Perks, a coffee kiosk set in the middle of the mall. Alyssa and several other employees whip up artisanal lattes, espresso freezes and other specialty beverages. Not only does she have necessary job experience, but she’s gaining managerial expertise. “They do their best to find a safe place for all their youth,” she said. “I’ve been working at Plaza Perks for three years. We serve about 60 to 90 customers a day. Not only are we pouring our coffee with love but we are serving to youth who go to school nearby, caseworkers, lawyers, detectives, police officers and so many more.”

On a recent spring day, Plaza Perks employees were prepping salads. “We get most of our business from the lunch crowd,” Tony said, noting the plaza’s proximity to county offices. After school, students from nearby charter schools hang out downstairs at the Underground Arcade, which also can be booked for birthday parties and other celebrations complete with pizza and the works.

Work Readiness
Andrea Rodriguez, youth workforce development program manager for Parents by Choice, said program participants are learning valuable skills that will help them find employment. “We offer job training and job readiness services to the youth of Stockton. They come in to apply, interview and if we can, we fit them into our cohort of three to four months long. They train here, working with us 20 to 30 hours a week; we do weekly workshops, which is the job readiness part. They will learn resumé building, customer service during which they role play; we take them interview clothes shopping, work clothes shopping, set them up with a bus pass, financial literacy, just figuring out the kinks of why they haven’t been able to maintain steady employment,” Andrea said. Career specialists on staff will work with participants to help them find more stable employment with better wages that will set them up for independence.

It’s a social enterprise effort that is invested in their future. “I’ve learned so much about customer service and team building,” Sierrafina said, as she showed a customer the curated selection of cards at Main Street Gifts. She has also become proficient in creating a resumé, knows what to say in a job interview and has been taught how to dress for success in the workplace.

“A lot of our youth have housing instability. Maybe they are staying on someone’s couch or living in a car. We help them live independently, which can be a challenge because housing is hard to find these days, especially for young people,” Tony said. “We have a building down the street, the Ruhl Building, that we’re going to turn into housing for our youth.”

Finding housing for foster youth as they turn 18 and age out of the system can be challenging. “Right now, we have to try and rent apartments for them around town and compete with everyone else. It’s hard and a lot of places don’t want to rent to youth,” Tony said. “The city gave us funding to purchase that building. We’re now figuring out how we’re going to pay for the renovations. We’ll figure it out. It has four retail spaces on the ground floor and it’s already framed out for 12 apartments on the second and third floors. It’s within walking distance to the plaza, so that’s really cool.” When it’s completed, it will provide housing for two dozen former foster youth.

The Parents by Choice team speak with pride and joy when they talk about the social enterprises inside Courthouse Plaza that are helping support young people. “Now, we just need to get the word out,” Tony said of the shops, eateries and arcade. “Come on down.”