What a Pair C/O Ruth Stalford

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“Make good believes in providing tangible, take home, on-the-ground impact for los angeles' most vulnerable and underserved children and youth. We believe being literate goes beyond words and books. It includes financial and nutritional literacy, social and emotional intelligence and having one's needs met with dignity and respect. Without all of these skills in place it is an enormous challenge to reach one's potential. Through our signature programs: the book foundation and tay shop at the emporium:foster resource & literacy center, we offer targeted programs to those most at risk of falling behind. We avoid a duplication of effort and provide deeply enriched programs by partnering with "best-in-class" organizations to effect positive and lasting change.”

“The book foundation was launched in 2014 by former hollywood producer and social entrepreneur, ruth stalford. The initial idea was simple: get new books into the hands of children in underserved areas. The research was clear, children growing up in homes with no books are "on average" three years behind children in homes with lots of books. And in low-income areas the ratio of books to children is 1 to 300. The work of the book foundation was simple, direct and immediate. Ruth's passion was contagious, like- minded organizations quickly wanted to partner with the book foundation. One of ruth's pet peeves in the non-profit world has always been duplication of effort. So her goal early on became to partner with organizations who were best of breeed, and where the book foundation could provide incremental and thus enhance each others's programs. The book foundation has donated hundreds of thousands of books to under resourced communities.”

“Building on the success of foster care counts' goods for grades program, the tay shop was founded in early 2017 to provide tay youth in los angeles county with new clothing and essential items to help ease the transition into adult hood with dignity and pride. With the support of the anthony & jeanne pritzker family foundation and others, we launched a center that not only offers new clothes and essentials, but also works with organizations to provide on-site life skills workshops to these young people. Since inception we have served more than 6,000 young people, giving away thousands of self-esteem-boosting items. Our work in the past year has been transformative not just for the tay youth but also for us as an organization. We are evolving into a hub where organizations that serve tay youth are connected with youth and each other to increase outcomes and enrich current programs. As part of our holistic approach to literacy, the tay shop is a retail environment where transitional aged foster youth (18-24 year old) are able to shop for casual & career clothing and basic essentials free of charge. We provide a personalized shopping experience that ensures our youth leave with the essentials needed to feel appropriately attired for their internships, job interviews and school life. This can be life changing for the young people who visit our space. Clients are referred to us by educational, mentoring or job training programs and shop by appointment only. In conjunction with the shopping experience, we work with our partners to offer targeted workshops to provide tangible life and professional skills. Our workshops are engaging and transformative for the young adults that visit the tay shop. Some client were so moved by the exprience that they've come back to serve as interns. Transition age youth (tay) are young people between the ages of 16-24 who are in transition from state custody or foster care. Once they turn 18 the level of government assistance that previously provided for man of their needs is reduced in scope. We are here to fill in the gaps and help these deserving young people prepare for adulthood. From outfitting them with interview-ready clothing to teaching them how to rent an apartment and open a bank account, we are here to fill in the gaps so they have a better chance to succeed.”