The first month on a college campus is daunting for any freshman, but the anxiety is heightened for former foster youth who can be triggered by having another move on their plate.
To ease the tension, nonprofit educational group Ready to Succeed (RTS) is willing to give whatever these students need via Project Dorm Room. Throughout August and September, RTS has been at multiple area campuses, giving out 28-piece curated dorm room sets and helping foster youth move into their dorm rooms. The organization helps foster youth, as well as low-income first generation college students, in building career opportunities and aiding in everyday life costs.
The project began in 2017 from now-RTS board member Tania Suster, and has expanded via RTS to serve over 300 students in Los Angeles. Raised funds of $750 furnish an entire dorm room, while a donation of $50 provides an individual student with essential school supplies. RTS is aiming to raise $225,000 for the endeavor by the end of the month, and will match any donations through that time.
Suster saw the need for foster youth when she visited UCLA and saw students "showing up with a hoodie and maybe a blanket and nothing else," RTS Co-Founder and CEO Romi Lassally explained.
"She saw that there were foster youth moving into UCLA without anything … she saw the stark contrast between (foster youth) students from most students from the general population who are showing up with their families," Lassally said. "She just thought these kids should not be going through this milestone moment alone, and she rallied her friends and her colleagues and her community of people to help her."
Suster reached out to UCLA on the endeavor, setting up a "bed and bath" store on campus for foster youth, then offering to help them move into their rooms.
"Moving is hard enough, but moving into college without support is even harder," Suster said. "I couldn’t stop thinking about all these youth who face this huge milestone on their own. It broke my heart."
RTS learned of Suster’s efforts through their mutual work in the Bruin Guardian Scholars program, realizing that she was "running out of room in her garage" and that the organization could take on the task.
"Initially we thought, not only is it an amazing program but we thought it could help us with our student recruitment, so we could meet students as freshmen and then recruit them into the program as sophomores" Lassally added. "We do use it as a recruitment opportunity, but it’s really taken on a life of its own."
Madison Braybrooke, Community Engagement and Resource Manager for RTS, saw the good of the program, and is now in charge of coordinating Project Dorm Room for her second year.
"(It’s) such a valuable first piece and first touch in that process, and so I think that really pulled me into it," Braybrooke said. "There’s just so many layers in terms of this project where we get to really show these students how much we care."
Finding a vendor for this year in Dorm Co to make sure students have "good quality items," the dorm room set includes bedding, towels, sheets, extension cords, lamps, rugs and other essentials. Once campuses let RTS know how many students the organization will be serving, RTS takes the materials and keeps them in storage until a focused, personal move-in day for the scholars.
"We usually set up in a large room or an auditorium, and then we have some awesome volunteers come and be that support day-of in person, and kind of pairing them up with a student and going ‘hey, this person’s here for whatever you need, you get white glove service today from our volunteers,’" Braybrooke said. "They’re taking cues from (students) if you want them to help make your bed, if you want them to throw out all the trash from the packaging of all your new items, whatever (they) need."
To supplement this, a coalition of Santa Monica and Westside families recently met in Playa Vista to make welcome bags for UCLA freshmen, featuring items that weren’t part of the initial set. On top of college merchandise, the package featured "things you want in college" like face masks, tea, easy mac and cheese, and ramen noodle soup.
When receiving their items, students are allowed to choose their personal colors for things like comforters and rugs, making the process feel less like a handout.
"It creates a level playing field for them," Lassally said. "They’re arriving and, you know, moving can be a traumatic sort of triggering experience for foster youth. So we try to make it a positive, moving experience, where they have everything that their roommates have and then some."
The UCLA leg of Project Dorm Room will take place from Sept. 18-20. To donate to the project and find out more information, visit.
