First Place In The News

San Francisco Chronicle columnist John Diaz wrote a piece on foster care reform in California and quoted First Place CEO Sam Cobbs.
Columnist Byron Williams wrote a great piece about First Place and the need to keep California state funding for transition age foster youth intact. The article ran in the Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times and the San Jose Mercury News.

First Place and CEO Sam Cobbs are featured in this profile, which touches on various nonprofit organizational issues like milestones, measures of success and misconceptions.
KPIX's Sue Kwon interviewed First Place CEO Sam Cobbs for the show Bay Sunday. The segment focuses on the issues foster youth face when they age out of care and how First Place's programs address those issues.
The in depth article discusses the obstacles facing foster youth who age out and all services First Place makes available to them.
First Place co-founder Deanne Pearn and Victoria, a youth in the Contra Costa county program, are featured in the year-end issue of Stanford Magazine.
First Place's Adrienne Jackson is interviewed for this article, part of which focuses on First Place and the benefits of employing former foster youth.
FPFY CEO Sam Cobbs' letter to the editor, opposing further state budget cuts to foster youth, was published in the Oakland Tribune and all Bay Area Newsgroup papers.
KTVU TV / Channel 2 news covered First Place and our “Back to School Night” event for former foster youth who are starting college in the fall. For the piece, program participants Aaron Smith and Sherri Mullen were interviewed about the experience of emancipating out of care and their plans for the future.
First Place Executive Director Sam Cobbs and program participant Gina Velarde are interviewed for this profile on our new Community Resource Center, a space that provide a stronger safety net for young people in transition from foster care to successful adulthood.
For the story, reporter Mike Rosen-Molina interviews First Place co-founder Deanne Pearn and program participants Geneva Naquin and Wendy Banegas.
San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Chip Johnson profiles First Place for Youth and the grand opening of the First Steps Community Resource Center. Chip interviews Co-Founder, Deanne Pearn and First Place program participant, Beaunca Wilson.
Michael Krasny, host of Forum, discusses the impact of AB 12, pending legislation that would extend support for children in foster care until they are 21. First Place’s Executive Director, Sam Cobbs, fAmy Lemley, policy director for the John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes, Karen Bass, Speaker of the California State Assembly and co-sponsor of AB 12, and Chio Saetern, a former foster youth are all featured.