Legislation that requires California’s public post-secondary education systems to give priority for on-campus housing to emancipated foster youths was recently signed into law.

AB 1393, the Foster Youth Priority Housing in College bill, also requires California State University campuses to keep housing facilities open for foster youths during school breaks. The bill was authored by Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Oct. 11.

“Some of (our) foster youths don’t actually have a place to go,” said Chantel Johnson, legislative and policy coordinator for the California Youth Connection, an organization that sponsored the bill. “So the point of this bill is to keep them from being homeless and to ensure their stability while trying to complete their degree.”

Emancipated foster youths are individuals who have reached the age of 18 and are no longer qualified to stay in the foster care system.

Andrew Martinez, legislative advocate for the CSU, said the bill “won’t really make a difference” because giving priorities to emancipated foster youths has been a policy at the CSU.

Sac State’s Guardian Scholars program, which started in 2006, provides financial and emotional support and academic assistance to emancipated foster youths, said Joy Salvetti, program director of Guardian Scholars.

“It’s really a one-stop shop for students who are former foster youths who would like to achieve their educational dream at Sac State,” Salvetti said. “We’ve been giving priority to scholars as far as housing.”

Former foster youth and freshman kinesiology major Brittany Chamalbide is a recipient of the Breaking the Barriers Guardian Scholars Scholarship Fund, which was provided by the Wells Fargo Foundation.

“They (Guardian Scholars) are pretty much paying for everything,” Chamalbide said. “I never expected this much help. I never knew that there are people out there who care about me and would help me get through college.”

Chamalbide, who now lives at Sac State’s housing facility, was in foster care in Seattle, Wash. until she was 8-years-old. She and her brother were put under the guardianship of their aunt and uncle in Elk Grove.

The Guardian Scholars program works with Housing and Residential Life to provide on and off-campus housing to emancipated foster youths, Salvetti said.

“If we’re made aware that they’re part of the foster care program or have previously been, we definitely try to accommodate them to the best of our ability,” said Peggy Luers, coordinator for housing administration and off-campus housing services at Sac State’s Housing and Residential Life. “They don’t have other avenues as far as family support, and they don’t have a lot of options for housing, so we do what we can to accommodate them.

Twelve other CSU campuses have programs for foster youths. In other campuses, these programs are called Renaissance Scholars, EOP Foster Youth Program, CME Society, ACE Scholars and Promise Scholars.

Johnson said that although these are support programs for foster youths, not all of them provide funds for housing.

“Right now, we’re working to get the word out that this bill has been passed,” Johnson said. “And we’re planning on working with state university systems to make sure that it’s implemented.”

Salvetti said the program helps emancipated and current foster youths create their identities in college.

“For foster youths, the fact that they’re emancipated at 18 and basically told to go on their own, you realize just how remarkably daunting that is,” Salvetti said. “Many times, they are very isolated. They just have no one.”

Kristine Guerra can be reached at [email protected].