Open More Doors - Big Day of Giving 2026

"I was homeless, sleeping in my car or at the gym, and still showed up for work and school."

That is Starr. She was 24 when she said those words. She had aged out of foster care with no family to call, no lease with her name on it, and no safety net. Like three out of four young adults who apply to AcademySTAY, she was unhoused or living in unsafe conditions when she first reached out for help.

Starr is not the exception. She is the pattern.

Every year, roughly 170 Sacramento young people turn 18 inside the foster care system. On that birthday, most of them step into a world with no family safety net, no co-signer, and no backup plan. In Sacramento County, one in four unhoused people spent time in foster care as children. Nationally, 40 to 50% of youth who age out become homeless within 18 months. Youth aged 18 to 24 now make up more than 20% of Sacramento's unhoused population.

But here is what the crisis numbers never capture: these young people are extraordinary. They are not waiting to be rescued. They show up for work, finish classes, and apply to programs that will help them build the lives they have been fighting for since childhood. As one 18-year-old applicant wrote: "I've never had a stable home. I want a safe space to focus on school, work, and building a future." Another said: "I believe I'm meant to be successful. I just need someone to help me get there."

Your gift on Big Day of Giving builds what a broken system never could.

AcademySTAY is not a shelter. It is not a waiting room. It is a launchpad built on a simple conviction: when young adults have a safe, stable place to live, everything else becomes possible.

We provide furnished apartments, mentorship, financial coaching, life skills workshops, mental health support, and a community that meets young adults where they are. Every student is actively enrolled in college or a trade program, because our model pairs stable housing with education from day one. This is not charity. It is a partnership built on accountability and mutual investment.

Rose, an AcademySTAY student, describes the difference: "Life skills classes are the most helpful. Every week a new expert comes in to teach something about your future, tools I never had before." She is now saving for cosmetology school and planning her next chapter on her own terms. As she puts it: "I don't down myself anymore. I realized that all I can do is push myself forward and build a better future."

That kind of transformation is not accidental. It is the result of a model that works.

In March 2026, AcademySTAY celebrated a milestone: 10,000 safe nights of housing for Sacramento's transition-age foster youth. That is 10,000 nights of a locked door, a quiet room, and the stability to dream past tomorrow. By summer, we will grow from 40 to 56 students across 28 apartments in Sacramento, Placer, and El Dorado Counties.

Without stable housing, the risks compound quickly. CalYOUTH research from Chapin Hall shows that foster youth who lack extended support are nearly twice as likely to be arrested in early adulthood. Homelessness accelerates contact with the criminal justice system, and Sacramento already knows the cost of inaction: incarceration in California runs $364 per day. An emergency shelter bed costs roughly $95 per day.

Supporting one AcademySTAY student costs less than $50 per day. Each year of stable housing and mentorship lowers arrest risk by 41%, and cuts homelessness risk by 23%. And because every AcademySTAY student is enrolled in college or a trade program, they are building toward a credential that adds hundreds of thousands of dollars in lifetime earning potential." For every $1 invested in extended care like ours, the community sees $3.95 back in reduced public costs and higher lifetime earnings.

This is not a donation. It is a fiscal decision that benefits our entire region.

Here is what your Big Day of Giving gift looks like in action:

$50 provides one safe night of housing and support. $350 covers one full week of stability. $1,500 keeps one student housed and supported for an entire month.

Every dollar you give redirects Sacramento's resources from crisis response to lasting independence, from emergency rooms and shelters to classrooms and careers.

L.N., age 21, put it simply: "This is where I finally get to build something of my own."

This Big Day of Giving, will you open the next door?