Our Impact
When foster youth turn 18, the door to the system closes behind them.
No more caseworker. No more placement. No more safety net.
Within 18 months, up to 50% face homelessness. 25% are arrested or incarcerated within two years of aging out. Only 4% will earn a college degree by age 23.
At AcademySTAY, we open a different door.
AcademySTAY is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 92-3060150) operating a 56-bed campus in the Del Paso Heights neighborhood of North Sacramento. We opened in October 2024 with one premise: young adults aging out of foster care can finish what they started if they have the stability and support to do it.
AcademySTAY by the Numbers (current as of June 2026)
Meet AcademySTAY — Through a Student's Eyes
This video was created by Johnny, a current AcademySTAY student, to mark our first 10,000 safe nights of housing in March 2026. We've since crossed 13,641 and counting...
Our Model
AcademySTAY integrates three things most programs deliver separately: stable housing, required post-secondary enrollment, and embedded clinical services. Every student on our campus is actively pursuing a college degree or vocational credential as a condition of residency. Every student has access to a licensed clinical social worker from the day they move in, not when a crisis hits. And every student lives in a furnished two-bedroom apartment that honors their privacy and dignity, not a shared bunk in a shelter.
We are the only program in our region doing all three.
See Where Our Students Live
Want to know what "a real home" actually looks like? Take a 360° virtual tour of a student apartment — fully furnished, two bedrooms, private rooms with locks.
Tour the apartments at AcademySTAY.org
Who We Serve
AcademySTAY serves young adults ages 18 to 24 transitioning from foster care. Our students are the population the system most often fails:
We do not treat these numbers as risk factors. We treat them as the reason our program exists.
14,200 Safe Nights and Counting
Since opening our doors in October 2024, we have provided 14,200 safe nights of housing. That is 14,200 nights students did not have to choose between rent and groceries. 14,200 nights they could study at their own kitchen table instead of a shelter cot.
Twelve of those students have already graduated — with associate degrees, a bachelor's degree, and credentials in cosmetology, EMS, welding, heavy equipment operation, and construction trades. Twelve young adults who the national data said probably would not make it. Who did.
What We Have Learned
In 18 months of operation, we have learned something most housing programs never figure out: the relationship is what keeps students housed. Students who build an established connection with our clinical team before a crisis hits remain housed through that crisis, every single time. Without that relationship, crises escalate into outcomes that end the housing.
That is not a mental health story. It is a graduation story. The relationship is what keeps students stable long enough to finish what they started.
Our Partners
AcademySTAY's work is possible because of our partnerships across Greater Sacramento. Program and funding partners include Sacramento CASA, PRO Youth & Families, SAFE Credit Union, Golden 1 Credit Union, JPMorgan Chase, Sutter Health, OTTP, United Way, Sacramento Steps Forward, the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, and HBI BuildStrong Academy.
Open a Door
Every gift opens a door for a young adult building toward independence on their own terms. Give today through this page or at www.academystay.org/donate
AcademySTAY provides education-linked transitional housing and wraparound support for young adults ages 18 to 24 transitioning from foster care, so they can finish what they started and build self-determined futures.
The transition from foster care is a systemic failure. Some young adults aging out receive a federal housing voucher that helps cover rent. Many receive nothing — and a current federal funding freeze means new vouchers are not being issued. Market rent in Sacramento exceeds $1,600 a month, leaving young adults to face a housing cliff with no resources. This gap is why 25% of Sacramento's unhoused population spent time in foster care as children, and why 25% of foster youth nationally are arrested or incarcerated within two years of aging out.
AcademySTAY interrupts both trajectories. We provide safe nights of housing, education advocacy, and one-on-one support for $78 a day — less than emergency shelter ($95), a fraction of incarceration ($350), and the only model in our region that ties housing to post-secondary completion.
We serve 47 students today, with capacity for 56 on our North Sacramento campus.
Your investment funds the gap between what public systems provide and what young adults actually need to finish a degree, build independence, and stay housed for life.
AcademySTAY exists because the systems meant to protect young people in foster care fail them at the moment they need stability most. The day a young adult turns 18, the system closes behind them, and the consequences fall hardest on Black, Latino, and LGBTQ+ youth, who are overrepresented in foster care and underrepresented in degree completion.
Eighty percent of our students are people of color. Sixty-three percent are Black. Thirty percent identify as LGBTQ+. Eighty-four percent are first-generation — no one in their family has earned a college credential. We do not treat these numbers as risk factors. We treat them as the reason our program exists.
Our model is built on "nothing about them without them" — former foster youth are paid for their expertise in program design, hiring decisions, and policy. We center stability, belief, and education as the foundation for self-determination.
We measure our success by what our students build, not what they survive.
View our current participation opportunities.
Clothes Closet Steward. Outfit Students for Job Interviews, Class, and Independe
Ongoing
Sacramento, CA
Life Skills Mentor — Share Your Expertise with Our Students
Ongoing
Sacramento, CA
Campus Beautification Day — Garden, Outdoor Spaces, and Maintenance
Ongoing
Sacramento, CA
Volunteer with AcademySTAY — Tell Us How You'd Like to Help
Ongoing
Sacramento, CA
Pro Bono Professional Services. Apply Your Expertise to Move the Mission Forward
Ongoing
Online
Career Connection Host — Open a Door to Your Industry
Ongoing
Sacramento, CA
Welcome Home Team — Greet New Students on Move-In Day
Ongoing
Sacramento, CA
Group Service Days — Bring Your Team or Congregation to Campus
Ongoing
Sacramento, CA
Event Day Volunteers — Be Part of the Moments That Fund the Mission
Ongoing
Sacramento, CA
Organization name
AcademySTAY
2024
Mission Category
Housing, Shelter
Operating Budget
$1,000,001-$5 million
Organization Need
Funding: Unrestricted, Funding: Program, Volunteers, In-Kind Donations
Demographics Served
Youth & Children, Homeless/Underhoused/Unhoused
Local Counties Served
Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Yolo
Address
2675 Altos Ave #2Placer County, CA, US
Sacramento County, CA, US
Yolo County, CA, US
El Dorado County, CA, US
Nevada County, CA, US