California counts more than 10,000 unhoused minors and transition-age youth (18-24) on any given night—nearly one-fifth of the nation’s total—and the number aging out of foster care into homelessness keeps climbing (childrennow.orgcapolicylab.org). Yet most of these young people become homeless not by choice but because we lack timely supports: rent-gap funds for struggling families, bridge housing and jobs for foster-care leavers, and community networks that step in before a couch or a car becomes “home.”
LaunchPad CA invites everyone - from social - service innovators and housing-tech startups to high-school clubs, faith groups, local businesses, and concerned neighbors, to pre-register, co-sponsor, or chip in to our crowdsourced prize purse that will power the best ideas. Teams will compete in two tracks: Family-Stability Solutions (preventing youth and their families from losing housing) and Foster-Transition Solutions (guaranteeing safe housing plus income pathways within six months of aging out). Winning concepts must show a clear plan to keep at least 5,000 California youth stably housed within 24 months of pilot launch and be scalable to every county.
By funding, mentoring, and spotlighting these community-driven breakthroughs, we’ll prove that ordinary Californians can turn compassion into concrete impact—building a future where no young person in the Golden State ever has to spend a night without a home.
