The ILP House, Guiding Harbor

Teens in foster care face unique challenges. Only half of teens in foster care graduate from high school, only one in four enrolls in any form of higher education, and fewer than 10% obtain any kind of advanced degree. They experience disproportionately high rates of all the things we adults fear most for our kids: joblessness, homelessness, mental health disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, and food insecurity.

Guiding Harbor, a foster care agency serving southeast Michigan, is working to give this at-risk population a much-needed helping hand with its Independent Living Plus (ILP) house in Ypsilanti. The ILP house accommodates up to seven youths, ages 16 to 19, who are aging out of the foster care system but are still ill-equipped to live independently. Under the supervision of social workers, adult mentors and success coaches, ILP youth either attend school or maintain employment while participating in programming that teaches financial literacy, time management, and life skills. Each youth has their own private bedroom but shares other spaces in the house – kitchen, living room, dining room, and bathrooms – communally with their peers.

Enter The Kids’ Table. Effective September of this year, the ILP house moved to a new building near EMU’s campus. The Kids’ Table stepped in to furnish the communal living room, dining room, office, and kitchen with comfortable and stylish furnishings. The kitchen is now fully stocked with new pots, pans, utensils, dishes, cutlery, bakeware, cleaning supplies…you name it, the ILP teens can make it (and clean up afterward!) in their orderly and functional kitchen. There are designated spaces for ILP business (trainings, coaching sessions, house meetings, etc.) and also plenty of space for the youth to relax and unwind together. We loved being able to do this for the ILP kids. Better still, we loved hearing that they are proud of the house and are being excellent stewards of it!