NFYI Los Angeles Local Chapter
Member Highlight
LA Chapter Member Michael Miser is a child welfare policy advocate and U.S. Navy veteran who served six years on active duty before pursuing his higher education goals. He is now a junior studying political science at Cal Poly Pomona. Michael participated in NFYI’s Congressional Leadership Academy and is an active member in the LA Chapter, bringing a growing knowledge of both federal and local child welfare policy to his organizing activities with NFYI. Michael has been invited to use the policy and public speaking skills he’s learned through NFYI at local and national events.
“Through my experience as a delegate with the Congressional Leadership Academy, as an LA chapter member, and as a Senior Intern, I’ve learned to navigate complex legislative issues and work directly with lawmakers. NFYI has been instrumental in preparing me with relevant experience for a future career in law, and working on child welfare policy.”
An Urgent Need & An Opportunity to Lead
Los Angeles County is home to one of the largest child welfare systems in the nation, with more than 19,000 children and youth served by that system as of February 2025. The challenges they face are complex and demand urgent, community-wide action.
- Every month, 100 young adults age out of foster care in LA and 23 will immediately become unhoused.
- In a study of 21-year-old foster youth in California, Chapin Hall found that 52% had experienced an arrest and 39% had been incarcerated.
- The Children’s Law Center of California reports that just 53% of California foster youth will graduate from high school on time…
- And that many exiting foster care report lackingstrong, supportive relationships, despite extended foster care until age 21 improving some outcomes in California.
At NFYI, we envision an LA County where no young person ages out of foster care into homelessness — and where former foster youth help shape the systems that impact them. NFYI’s Los Angeles Chapter provides a supportive community where current and former foster youth can connect, develop leadership skills, and drive change.
Chapter members meet twice a month, receive support in organizing their peers outside of NFYI, participate in leadership and community organizing trainings, and participate in work groups focused on the six issues that are part of of NFYI’s Urgency to Act campaign.
And in 2024, NFYI launched the inaugural Los Angeles Foster Youth Shadow Day, bringing together a dozen foster youth activists, the entire LA County Board of Supervisors, the Mayor of LA, most of the LA City Council, and the City Attorney for a day of education and action. Watch a report about LA Shadow Day here and learn how current/former foster youth telling their stories inspired change.
NFYI and our LA Chapter members believe that brighter futures for foster youth in LA County are possible. Read on to see how their efforts are making a difference:
Members now serve on multiple commissions and boards, using their lived experience and NFYI’s policy training to influence policy-making.
Working with NFYI staff, LA Chapter members developed six policy recommendations for local and national implementation as part of the Urgency to Act campaign.
The challenges facing Los Angeles are deeply connected to the experiences of foster youth, our most vulnerable community members. By equipping young people with the skills, networks, and opportunities to lead, we’re building a stronger, more equitable LA County.