Published on December 29, 2025
Photo by Alisha Jucevic
"To us, this is like
winning the lottery."
How flexible cash support helped one former foster youth finally turn off survival mode and build a home, a career, and a future.
By Catherine Calvillo • December 29, 2025
My name is Catherine Calvillo.
I’m 23, from Los Angeles, and I work as a housing case manager at Children’s Law Center. I also used to have my own case file there.
My whole 23 years of living, I’ve never had stable housing. From very young, I remember jumping back and forth between Arizona and California — three months here, three months there. I’ve lived in shelters and hotels. When my mom finally found “stable” housing, it wasn’t the best. We had asbestos. I got sick from mold. The power would go out, and we were scared to even keep food in the fridge. It was chaos.
As a teenager, I entered foster care and then the juvenile justice system. There was planning to get me into transitional housing, but I was young and reckless and didn’t know how to manage my money. A lot of those choices still follow me today in my credit and my debt.
Now, I finally have an apartment that feels like home. I live here with my partner and his daughter. I love my job at Children’s Law Center — the same organization that once represented me — and I support other young people trying to stay housed.
Photo by Alisha Jucevic
But even with a full-time job, I was living paycheck to paycheck with a gap. I don’t qualify for most assistance because of how much I make on paper, but in reality, I was going to sleep thinking about rent, waking up thinking about it, tossing and turning all night worrying about a three-day notice on the door. Losing housing, to me, is the end of the world. For me, there is no hope at that point.
When I got the call that I’d been approved for CASH LA, it was like hitting the lottery. I cried. I called my partner and told all my family immediately. Within weeks, I was able to get current on rent, pay my car tags, buy “real” groceries like ground beef, and go to the doctor without being terrified of the copay. This money has allowed me to turn off survival mode for a little bit and breathe like a normal human being. For the first time, I started putting up decorations and making this place my own. Magnets on the fridge. Stitch decor in the kitchen. A spice shelf my partner built for me. For the first time, I really feel at home.
Photos by Alisha Jucevic
I see the impact of direct cash every day in my work, too. A lot of youth don’t have credit, don’t have family they can ask for $20, don’t qualify for loans. As youth, the economy is just harder — imagine being 19 and trying to convince someone to rent to you. For a lot of youth, the cash from CASH LA isn’t a million dollars, but it feels like it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This might be the only resource they’re ever connected to.
That’s why programs like CASH LA matter so much — the direct cash and the follow-up: the financial class, the housing plan, people checking in. This wasn’t just, “Here’s your one-time payment.” That support makes a huge difference.
I want more people to experience CASH LA. I want more youth to get this help because it is huge. We don’t always get opportunities like this. For some of us, this may be the first time we ever experience something like this — and maybe the last.
As you think about your end-of-year giving, I’m asking you, in my voice as both a former foster youth and a housing case manager, to invest in programs like CASH LA. Your support means young people can keep their homes, stay in school, see a doctor, and start to heal — instead of being pushed back into survival mode.
Thank you for believing in us, and for helping make sure that youth in Los Angeles and sites around the country get more than just one chance at stability.
With gratitude,
Catherine Calvillo
Housing Case Manager, Children’s Law Center
CASH LA Participant and Advocate
