Destiny Sanchez had lived in 12 foster situations, including group homes and shelters, and she was couch surfing when she heard about The Taylor House in downtown Roseville. The cheerful yellow home serves young women 18–24 who have aged out of the foster care system or are at risk, helping them bridge into adulthood. Sanchez was accepted in 2015, moved in and stayed for one life-changing year.
“The Taylor House set me up for success by providing a stable home to gather my thoughts,” she says. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the home can accommodate eight residents, immersing them in individualized plans centering on employment, education, transportation, health and wellness, and budgeting/banking.
Executive director Lisa Addy-Peat founded the home after she started volunteering in 2007 with Child Advocates of Placer County and realized that some of the girls she mentored there would turn 18 with no support system or safety net.
“These girls have experienced more in their short lives than most of us in our entirety,” says Addy-Peat. “They are survivors of abuse, neglect and abandonment, and while many can attest to feeling loved at times in their upbringing, many more say the opposite.”
The need for services is great. “When we do have an opening, it is usually filled with a girl who is in immediate need of housing,” says Addy-Peat. That’s why the nonprofit has unveiled plans to open a second home in 2023. With the help of donations from a new sustaining-members program, it has pledged $10,000 in scholarships this year to help former foster and at-risk youth further their educations, and it plans to expand its Aspiring Entrepreneur Program.
Sanchez, now 27, is engaged to be married and is in her last year of her sociology studies at UC Merced. She’s currently an intern at The Taylor House.
“I had nowhere to go,” she says. “Instead, they pointed me in a direction that would change my life.” Learn more at thetaylorhouse.org.
