Giving foster kids a fighting chance

     Three decades in the newspaper business can teach you a lot about life, and give you greater appreciation for those whose livelihood is built around improving the lives of others.

     As much as we're riveted by those stories that keep you at the edge of your seats, it's the people who quietly make a difference in our world that leave the most lasting impression.

     Recently, my wife and I had the honor of meeting Franco Vega, executive director of the Right Way Foundation -- a group dedicated to giving at-risk foster children a fighting chance in the work world.

     For many of us, it's not something we often think about, but Los Angeles County alone is home to more than 21,000 foster youth. Alarmingly, statistics show that 51 percent of foster kids become unemployed with four years of emancipation, 36 percent become homeless within 18 months, and one in four becomes incarcerated within two years.

     Reversing that trendline is what the Right Way Foundation is all about, and at the core of this effort is something Vega and the Foundation call "Operation Emancipation." Available to foster youth 16 and older, the program not only provides an employment center with training on interviewing, resume writing, financial literacy and scholarships, it also provides therapy, teaching them to advocate for their own lives and develop positive support systems.

     We visited Vega at one of their training centers in the City of Industry. Working with the Soles 4 Souls organization and with the support of Serec Logistics, Operation Emancipation trainees collect shoes and ship them to those in need throughout the world.

      Leading the team this particular day was Edwin Carter, a resilient and cheerful former foster youth. Now 23, Carter says Operation Emancipation has given him "a second chance at life" -- one he intends to take full advantage of.

      Vega can relate. He became a foster youth at age 15 after the cancer death of his mom. His father had died of alcoholism at age 11. When his foster care ended at the age of 18, Vega joined the Army, which gave him on-the-job experience and a strong work ethic.

      "It became my mission to give back," he said.

      According to Edwin Carter, it's a mission accomplished.

      For more information on The Right Way Foundation and Operation Emancipation, visit www.therightwayfoundation.org.