Support for Young Adults
Essential services for the next chapter in life
Hillsides supports young adults with life-changing services through the Youth Moving On (YMO) program. The program serves transition-aged youth 16–25 with temporary housing services, a drop-in center for training and support, and workforce development.
We extend behavioral health support, employing evidence-based practices to foster essential life skills, education, healthy relationships, self-advocacy, physical fitness, and proper nutrition. Our overarching goal is to nurture the emotional and physical well-being of each individual, paving the way for lasting independence and a lifetime of fulfillment.
We believe that a sense of home is vital to addressing and overcoming critical challenges, as it provides individuals with the stability to confidently chart their next steps. Our transitional housing program provides youth ages 18 – 24 with up to two years of affordable, quality housing. Our safe and comfortable apartment complex offers one-bedroom units complete with new bedding, food, and essentials.
As part of the program, participants receive the tools necessary for independent living and benefit from daily support provided by a multidisciplinary on-site team. Additionally, program participants have access to educational and career support, on-site tutoring, substance abuse counseling, mentors, financial literacy training, and therapeutic services.
Youth Moving On provides a welcoming haven known as the Peer Resource Center – a drop-in center designed to provide a safe, welcoming space for young adults to access vital services and foster meaningful social connections with their peers.
Many of the individuals who walk through our doors are coming out of the foster care system, are homeless or at risk of homelessness, or need additional support and resources; our commitment is to ensure that not only basic needs are met but surpassed, laying the foundation for stability and the cultivation of healthy relationships.
We offer individualized case management, seamlessly connecting individuals to essential resources and housing options tailored to support their immediate and long-term goals.
Youth Moving On emphasizes employment as a pivotal element for achieving stability and success. We offer university-tested and approved workforce development training to make sure young adults can leverage their strengths into a meaningful career path. We offer weekly classes designed to cultivate both hard and soft skills essential for securing paid internships across a diverse range of career paths.
We are a proud partner of numerous Los Angeles-based and San Gabriel Valley-based businesses and organizations that provide internships and can bud into long-term employment opportunities.
Gaining access to essential support can be difficult, however we aim to minimize these barriers for young people and provide a “one-stop-shop” for FREE centralized services and support.
Take the next step.
Youth Moving On Peer Resource Center
456 E. Orange Blvd., Suite 140
Pasadena, CA 91104
626.765.6010
prc@hillsides.org
Hours
Monday: 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday: 10:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday: 10:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Thursday: 10:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Friday: 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
When Janette was a little girl, she loved to bake with her grandmother. She always felt safe with her, and baking served as a reminder of that. When she was five years old, she entered the foster care system due to domestic violence between her mother and stepfather.
It took her grandmother years to gain custody of Janette and her sisters, who in the interim endured multiple placements due to the abusive nature of those homes as well. Her grandmother finally gained custody of her and her sisters, but after just a few years, she could no longer stay with her grandmother due to her age-declining health and the onset of aging out under her grandmother’s kinship.
To support Janette through this transition, she turned to Hillside’s Youth Moving On (YMO): a program designed to help emancipated youth prepare for adulthood—characterized by job training, and arming youth with financial know-how and counseling to inspire their career pathway. She was fearful and anxious as she entered the program, but through intentional therapeutic services, she began processing her trauma and rediscovering her strengths—which reminiscently rose as cooking and baking.
Janette baked with her grandmother whenever she visited her at Hillsides, always leaning into traditional Mexican desserts like flan, cheesecakes, carrot cake, and corn bread. During this time, Janette also completed Hillsides’ Career Club, which placed her at local coffee shop: Rosebud Coffee. This experience deepened her passion for baking and cooking, and with the mentorship of her therapist and the Hillsides Workforce Development team, she enrolled in the Institution of Culinary Education in Pasadena to become a pastry chef. She graduated in May 2023, and this milestone was jointly made possible by a scholarship from the YMO private scholarship donation fund.
She currently works at Rosebud Coffee as an intern through YMO’s workforce program, with the eventual dream to open her own café and pastry shop, and to start a catering business on the side.
