MyPlace Jackson is a home for young women, 16-22, aging out of foster care or facing housing insecurity. Executive Director, Alexandria Fagan, shared that MyPlace hopes to also have a home for young men very soon. Fagan also shared that local, state, and national data shows that youth who are aging out of foster care without home placement, or otherwise homeless, are most at risk to being trafficked.
Fagan explains, “Really on the ground in our program, what that looks like is doing everything we can to reduce their vulnerabilities, so they can be self-sufficient and happy and healed and safe on their own, once they graduate the program.”
Programs include services as simple as getting IDs, driver’s licenses, or graduating high school or college, but MyPlace saw that residents struggled to keep jobs. Fagan continued to share that MyPlace aims to meet their residents where they are, and teach them employability skills while also having grace, reassuring residents that their jobs are waiting for them after a return from something such as a mental health leave. From that need came MyBakery, a trauma-informed workplace and bakery.