a group of people posing for a photo in front of a house
BE PART OF THE MOVEMENT

Advocacy · Mentorship · Youth leadership

Your story.
Your voice.
Your future.

We're building a future where system-impacted young people don't just find their voice—they use it to shape their communities, create opportunity, and lead what comes next.

OUR MISSION

Project REBUILD™ is a youth-centered advocacy and mentorship initiative supporting system-impacted teens and young adults ages 16–26.

Not a statistic.
A changemaker.

We help young people own their stories, build practical foundations, develop their leadership, and become advocates for themselves and others. We believe their lived experiences can be a source of insight, purpose, and community change.

OUR VISION

One million young lives.
A youth led movement.

Our long-term ambition is to grow a network of young advocates, mentors, and community leaders who create lasting opportunity where they live—and eventually around the world.

Our long-term ambition is to grow a network of young advocates, mentors, and community leaders who create lasting opportunity where they live—and eventually around the world.

a group of young people standing next to each other
a group of young people standing next to each other
3 women and 2 men standing on gray pavement during daytime
3 women and 2 men standing on gray pavement during daytime
Four women laughing together in a line outdoors during the golden hour
Four women laughing together in a line outdoors during the golden hour
Three smiling friends with arms around each other
Three smiling friends with arms around each other
GET INVOLVED
GET INVOLVED

the case for change / research

Research sources: National Council For Adoption / AFCARS · Annie E. Casey Foundation / NYTD: homelessness · NYTD: incarceration · NYTD: education · Annie E. Casey Foundation: employment and transition outcomes · U.S. Department of Justice: trafficking research.

Statistics represent different years, cohorts, and measurement windows. They are not all youth who have ever been in foster care, and they are not Project REBUILD outcomes. No reliable national figure for homelessness within exactly 18 months after aging out or for the share of all trafficking survivors with foster-care histories was established.

15,379

young people exited U.S. foster care through emancipation in fiscal year 2024—without achieving legal permanency through reunification, adoption, or guardianship.

National Council For Adoption analysis of federal AFCARS FY2024 data

26%

of surveyed young people transitioning from foster care reported homelessness between ages 19 and 21.

National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) follow-up; self-reported, two-year window

72%

reported no enrolling in future education or training at age 21, including school, vocational training, or college—not college alone.

National foster-care transition data; enrollment at survey date

14%

of surveyed young people transitioning from foster care reported incarceration between ages 19 and 21.

National foster-care transition survey; self-reported, two-year window

41%

reported not having full-time or part-time employment at age 21.

National foster-care transition data; employment at survey date

When support ends,
vulnerability
doesn't.

The transition from foster care to adulthood can bring overlapping challenges in housing, employment, safety, and justice-system involvement. These outcomes are not inevitable. Young people deserve lasting relationships, meaningful opportunities, and systems that respond before crisis.

Young people who run away from care or lack stable housing and trusted support may face heightened vulnerability to exploitation. Research has documented trafficking allegations among youth who ran away from foster care, but there is no verified, representative national percentage of all trafficking survivors who previously experienced foster care. We will not misrepresent a state or service-provider sample as a national rate.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT

Exploitation is part of the conversation, too.

Because turning 18 shouldn't mean your support system disappears.

Project REBUILD advocates for lasting relationships, practical resources, economic opportunity, and youth-led change.