Adult Connections Team (ACT) was an enhanced services intervention for youth in foster care ages 17 to 20 to promote employment, education, and mental health that included outreach by a youth specialist, coordinated mentoring, job readiness training, and externship services. After outreach from a youth specialist, youth could choose to participate in the mentoring component, the employment component, or both. After youth specialists coordinated a match, trained mentors met with youth for at least one year, with ongoing support from agency staff. Participants also had access to peer mentoring and support activities, such as dinners and social activities attended by program alumni and staff. The employment component was a job readiness program that provided both an individualized 20-hour training program focused on soft skill development and placement in an externship to develop job skills.
The program was evaluated in Cook County, IL.
Adult Connections Team (ACT) was an enhanced services intervention for youth in foster care ages 17 to 20 to promote employment, education, and mental health that included outreach by a youth specialist, coordinated mentoring, job readiness training, and externship services.