Raelin Sawka Musuraca

Personal Work

Empowering Former Foster Youths to Live Independently

Connecting former foster youths to needed services and resources when they move beyond foster care.

The Problem

KidsVoice, a provider of legal services to foster youths, observed that many of the young adults after leaving their care, found themselves jobless and homeless because they did not have the access to services and resources they had once had as youths.

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The Methods

Interviewed young adults in homeless shelters, conducted a needs activity with soon-to-graduate foster youths (right), and leveraged third-party research data to develop a mobile website design that would provide information on job services, shelters, healthcare and other vital resources. Designed and tested paper and mobile prototypes (right) with foster youths iterating to a final simple design concept.

Note: Both third-party and our own research demonstrated that homeless and low-income populations do have access to older model smart-phones and leverage free wi-fi availability with these devices. This technology is a life-line for staying in touch with family and accessing needed services.

Raelin Musuraca