Young People to the Front

Episode Notes:

Sherry Bradford is a foster youth advocate, Prevention Early Intervention Training Coordinator at CASA of Los Angeles, educational consultant with Alliance for Children's Rights, and MSW candidate at Cal State Long Beach. In this episode, she sits down with Tonny to talk about her journey through the foster care system, how she got into advocacy, and her role in creating the TA(Y)LK To Me Podcast.

Topics covered:

Growing up in foster care and experiencing homelessness after aging out at 21

Navigating college as a former foster youth and the resources that made it possible

Why compensation and support for advocates with lived experience is non-negotiable

Creating the TA(Y)LK To Me Podcast, including how youth were paid, supported, and centered throughout

The importance of hiring people with lived experience in full-time roles, not just as contractors

Mental health alternatives beyond traditional therapy

Cultural competency and meeting youth where they are

The youth-to-youth support model and why it works

Episode Notes:

Myriah didn't set out to become an advocate. After emancipating from foster care, she started sharing her story and the work just took off from there. From being featured in the LA Times, to representing her community as Miss Compton Princess, to serving four years on the LA County Board of Supervisors Youth Commission, she's spent years making sure young people in care are in the room before decisions get made, not after.

In this episode, she talks about what it actually looks like to center youth voice in institutional spaces, the difference between youth-led healing and adult-led extraction, and why knowing your rights in foster care is something most young people don't find out until after they've already aged out. She also gets into her work with the Alliance of Children's Rights, the educational rights video series she helped create with the Office of Child Protection, and why it matters that young people leave these conversations with closure and not open wounds.

Oh, and she's also Chef Smiley. She talks about how cooking became therapy during her time in care, how she turned that into a career during the pandemic, and her dream of one day bringing culinary skills to foster youth.

In this episode:

How advocacy finds you before you find it

The LA County Youth Commission and why lived experience belongs in policy rooms

Educational rights foster youth aren't told about until it's too late

What makes a space truly youth-led vs. youth-used

Culinary arts as healing, hustle, and hope

Episode Notes:

What happens when the people closest to the problem are the last ones supported by the system?

In this episode, we sit down with Evelyn Karina Rodriguez (they/them) — artist, activist, researcher, and founder of 404 Found — and Christopher Hendricks, youth system strategist and MSW candidate at Cal State Fullerton. Both are rooted in Southern California, and both found their way to youth homelessness advocacy not by choice, but because the work found them.

Together, they get honest about what it actually looks like to advocate from lived experience — the code-switching required for survival, the "favorite child" phenomenon that rewards polished voices over authentic ones, and what it means to show up audaciously in spaces that weren't built for you.

They also dig into what's missing: real mentorship pipelines, intergenerational knowledge transfer, and organizations that move beyond trauma-informed language toward trauma-informed action.

In this episode:

Art as a tool for youth engagement beyond vocalization

The class system inside advocacy spaces

When sharing your story funds an org but doesn't build your future

Covert harm, stonewalling, and leadership that can't navigate its own emotions

What 404 Found is building differently — and why it took five years to get there

Recommendations for the Office of Child Protection and beyond

About JBAY and the Guests
What JBAY does as an advocacy organization (not direct service)
JBAY's work on state policy and budget investments for youth homelessness
How both Simone and Brandon started in direct service before moving to advocacy
What is HHAP?
Flexible local aid administered by California Department of Housing and Community Development
Funding goes to 58 counties, 14 largest cities, and 44 homeless Continuums of Care (CoCs)
The "secret sauce": 10% youth set-aside policy requiring minimum funding for youth services
Why young people don't get served without designated funding requirements
The Major Success: 24% Reduction in Youth Homelessness
Youth homelessness dropped from 13,000 to 9,900 (2019-2024)
Unsheltered youth homelessness dropped even more sharply by 42%
Over 50,000 young people served by HHAP to date
This happened while overall CA homelessness increased 24% and national youth homelessness increased 11%
How Different Communities Used HHAP
LA invested heavily in rapid rehousing (one-third of statewide spending)
Santa Clara County adjusted allocations year-to-year based on community needs
27% of grantees invested MORE than the required 10% in youth services
Rural communities built youth homelessness infrastructure from nothing
Importance of COCs, cities, and counties coordinating services
The Current Funding Crisis
HHAP absent from 2025-26 state budget for first time since 2019
2026-27 budget promises $500 million (half of previous $1 billion)
Youth funding would drop from $80 million to $40 million annually
Federal cuts compound the problem (HUD capping permanent housing at 30%, YHDP renewals now competitive)
Unknown priorities of next California governor
Why Young People Are Vulnerable
Coordinated entry systems prioritize chronic homelessness and comorbid conditions
Youth who bounce between housing situations don't get prioritized
Youth homelessness is less visible than adult homelessness
Without set-aside policies, youth generally won't be served when funding is tight
Path to Functional Zero
What functional zero means: homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring
California is trending toward functional zero for youth
Need sustained funding to maintain progress
Risk of reversing the 24% reduction without HHAP
Data and Challenges
Point-in-Time (PIT) counts are undercounts but useful for year-to-year comparisons
COVID-era data limited because PIT count wasn't required
Need more sophisticated tracking of recidivism and long-term outcomes
Communities should track whether people maintain stable housing
Local and Philanthropic Options
LA's Measure A could supplement HHAP if it includes youth set-aside
Communities should advocate for youth-specified funding locally
Philanthropy can help during rough patches but isn't sustainable long-term
Government's role to sustain homelessness response system
How to Take Action
Join JBAY's advocacy coalition for sustained HHAP investment
Write letters and meet with state senators and assembly members
Attend Sacramento hearings and provide public comment
Advocate on social media and talk to media
Contact federal representatives about cuts
Advocate for youth set-aside policies in local investments
Ensure advocacy comes from across California, not just major cities
Key statistics
24% reduction in youth homelessness in California (2019-2024)
42% reduction in unsheltered youth homelessness
Over 50,000 youth served by HHAP to date
27% of grantees exceeded the 10% youth funding requirement
Youth funding at risk of dropping from $80 million to $40 million annually
Website: jbay.org 
Report: "Investing in Impact: How State Investment Reduced Youth Homelessness in California"

Episode Notes
This week on Young People at the Front, Tonny, Robin, and Fatine open with banter about meeting your younger self. 
Then, Tonny sits down with Cutter Palacios, an actor, intimacy coordinator, and mental health educator whose story rewrites what survival, resilience, and belonging can look like. Cutter moved to Los Angeles at 19 with $500, a dream, and nowhere to go. For two and a half years, they lived out of a compact SUV — sleeping beside a fire station in Burbank, brushing their teeth at Starbucks, and chasing auditions between shifts at Canter’s Deli. What started as survival became a study in self-sufficiency and courage — and ultimately, a search for community that would lead to an unexpected place: the kink and sex-positive world of Threshold.
In this candid conversation, Cutter shares how that world became a lifeline — not just a place of sexual exploration, but one of trust, structure, empathy, and belonging. It’s where they met their first roommate, found affordable housing, and eventually helped lead and found new organizations like The Next Generation Los Angeles (TNG-LA), a free, sliding-scale community space for 18–35-year-olds exploring consent, identity, and connection.
Tonny opens up too, reflecting on his own experience navigating youth homelessness and the quiet shame that can come with survival. Together, they dismantle stereotypes, redefine what “home” really means, and explore how unconventional spaces from dungeons to diners  can become sanctuaries for healing.
It’s a vulnerable, funny, and radically compassionate episode about finding your people, claiming your story, and remembering that community real community is always a little inconvenient.
Topics Discussed in This Episode
“If you could meet yourself at any age…” — a banter that turns surprisingly therapeutic
Cutter’s move from Texas to Los Angeles at 19
Living out of a Chevy Blazer, brushing teeth at Starbucks, and chasing auditions
The invisible face of youth homelessness in LA
Tonny shares his own experience surviving in his car while attending culinary school
The turning point: discovering the Threshold community
How sex-positive and kink spaces became a lifeline for belonging and support
Founding The Next Generation Los Angeles (TNG-LA)
Community as inconvenience — why showing up matters
Breaking stigma around “van life” and redefining homelessness
How kink culture models consent, care, and mutual trust
Mental health, identity, and finding balance in the entertainment industry
The four pillars of human need: belonging, independence, generosity, and competency
From isolation to partnership — Cutter’s reflections on love, safety, and purpose
What “home” really means when you build it yourself
Connect with Cutter Palacios
@TNGLosAngeles — The Next Generation LA Linktree
Mental Health Resources: Association of Mental Health Coordinators