First In Readiness and Self-Sufficiency Training

There are 500,000 children across this country in the foster care system for reasons of abuse, neglect, hardships, and/or overall lack of family support. Because of bureaucracy, budget restraints, and budget deficits, approximately 20,000 young adults annually make the transition out of the foster care system without vocational, or life management skills, or a realistic plan for living independently. This puts young adults who are transitioning out of foster care at a greater risk of being unemployed, unemployable, homeless, or transferred to those other systems – the welfare or the criminal justice system.

The only purpose of F.I.R.S.T. Contractors is to prepare and increase young adults’ opportunity for long-term success after foster care and/or juvenile incarceration. Our guiding principles are that:

• Every young adult possesses the innate ability to live and work effectively.
• Empowerment is a continuous process of the application of various activities, situations and lessons learned used as fuel in the process of employability and life.
• Employability is a continuum of actions and behaviors essential to successful employment and overall life management.
• Supportive environments will increase every young adult’s ability to be successful in the continuum of employability and life.

Our objective is to use the introduction to carpentry and inventory control as vehicles to promote transferable life skills. We believe that the combination of building wood products and understanding the components of entrepreneurship regarding its distribution presents great opportunities for young adults to:

• Build Confidence
• Develop Transferable & Marketable Skills
• Experience Success
• Develop Realistic Plans for Living Independently.