I wrote about purpose in the last edition of the Fullerton Observer.  According to an article in American Psychologist (2023), purpose is a central, self-organizing life aim that can be evaluated on the dimensions of:

• Strength (the influence it has on behavior).
• Scope (the range of domains affected).
• Awareness (the degree to which there is conscious clarity and articulation about one’s purpose).

William Damon, a Professor of Education at Stanford University, defined purpose in his book The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life as “an active commitment to accomplish aims that are both meaningful to the self and of consequence to the world beyond the self.”

I heard Robert K. Brown, Jr, Founder and Executive Director of Young Lives Redeemed (YLR), speak at a Chapter Y Philanthropic Educational Organization meeting at which Brown exemplified this definition of purpose.

Robert’s purpose was to create an organization to be there for foster kids who are severed from any financial or emotional support after they reach 18 years of age. Many foster kids are in and out of several foster homes, have not formed attachments with any family, and have no one to help them navigate through life and be there for them. They are on their own. Only 55% graduate from high school, and only 3% attend college. When Brown started YLR ten years ago, these kids had few resources.
I asked about his life to understand Robert and his motivation for creating this organization. He responded that helping others was how he was raised. He worked summers at day camps for disabled people in La Habra and Fullerton during high school and college.

Brown came from a family where “paying it forward” and giving back were expected. With access to a van working for the City of Fullerton, he and the other counselors created “normal” life experiences for this adult population by taking them camping in Yosemite, to the beach, to the mall, and many other places they had never experienced.

Brown has volunteered at Orangewood Children’s Home, working with adolescents and doing novel things such as taking them to the movies and making ice cream sundaes. He aimed to give them a “normal” experience they had not received in childhood.
Visualizing the need for foster kids after they are terminated from support in the foster care system at the age of eighteen, Brown developed YLR in July 2014 as a non-profit 501(c3)) for these transitional-age youth from 18 to 25 years of age. He found that these kids needed housing, mental health, and drug addiction treatment, so he developed a comprehensive program to help them find the resources they need, with a view toward a leg up and not simply a handout. They represent a disproportionate share of the homeless population and need mental health services (1 in 3 persons) and substance abuse treatment (1 in 2 persons).
Robert has rescued young adults from such places as homeless encampments where they survive on a day-to-day basis by supporting their drug habit through the collection of recyclables and obtaining food from trash dumpsters. At this phase, they have no plans or goals in life – they barely exist.

The program is comprehensive, intensive, and long-term, usually lasting one year. The goals are stability and self-sufficiency.
The first step for many is treatment, which involves rehabilitation of drug addiction and the beginning steps towards healthy living.

The second step is to create a relationship with these young adults and discuss what they want to do with their lives. Do they want to go to college, trade school, or get a job? YLR is there to help them succeed in making these dreams come true with tasks such as filling out applications.

The third step is to help them to live independently. During this transition to independent living, the organization will help initially with rent, furnishings, and life skills training, as coordinated by the youth’s YLR case manager. He has also developed contacts and resources for these young adults where few existed ten years ago.

After the program is completed, these young adults might need food, housing, and help in general. Brown’s idea of a successful program involves continued care and assistance when needed, even after the young adults have completed the program. He provides his personal cell phone number so graduates can still get help when they need it.

I believe this model is successful because they are not terminated from the program and always feel that someone is there to help them. Sometimes, one or two have needed to return to the program. Robert’s primary purpose is to create a sense of family for these kids.

At YLR, there are two case managers on staff and volunteer personnel, one of whom is in the process of establishing a data bank to tabulate the organization’s statistics.

Volunteers also serve as mentors. Youth are often referred through county agencies and other non-profits that don’t provide the specific services needed. To recognize the seriousness of this problem, some program participants are survivors of sex trafficking.
Since 2014, hundreds of youth have been served, and in 2025, they have budgeted to take on 80 youth. As with many non-profits, YLR could use your financial help.

You may call 714-526-9046 or email robert.brown@younglivesredeemed.org.

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