Funded Partner Spotlight: Starting Right, Now
Roughly two decades ago, reeling from personal struggles connected to her daughter’s health, Vicki Sokolik reached out to her local school district looking for a way to give back and be of service. Soon after, she started mentoring and supporting a homeless high school student who found herself outside the boundaries of the foster care system and in need of support.
Today, that student has a graduate degree, meaningful employment, and benefits.
And Sokolik has a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping other students in similar situations, now known as unaccompanied homeless youth.
In 2024, the Foundation, in collaboration with Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital, awarded a programmatic operations grant of $206,520 to Starting Right, Now to support wrap-around services and curriculum for south St. Petersburg students who are part of their residential program for unaccompanied homeless youth aged 15-19.
“People don’t realize there’s a group of kids who fall through the safety net and, without our support, would end up couch surfing until they run out of options and likely not completing high school,” Sokolik said. “The thing that makes us the most unique is that we provide care management until they actually get into their careers. Even when they’re no longer living with us, we make sure they get to their next goal.”
Starting Right, Now provides youth with safe housing, food security, hygiene products, academic support, and life skills training. Every Monday and Wednesday, in addition to attending school, students must participate in mandatory life skills classes that help them understand and work through trauma and also learn leadership, self-esteem and emotional management, etiquette, budgeting, financial literacy, preventative health, and more.
“The trauma is so intense when we get these kids that they’re spitting fire at everyone. If all we did was give these kids a bed, they would leave us still spitting fire,” Sokolik said. “Instead, we help transform them so they can stand up and tell their story with pride and resilience as opposed to shame, and that makes all the difference in the world.”
“The trauma is so intense when we get these kids that they’re spitting fire at everyone. If all we did was give these kids a bed, they would leave us still spitting fire,” Sokolik said. “Instead, we help transform them so they can stand up and tell their story with pride and resilience as opposed to shame, and that makes all the difference in the world.”
After an initial 90 decompression and assessment period, students pick up part-time jobs to gain skills, find structure, and build savings (although exceptions are made for students in need of remedial academic assistance). By saving a mandatory 30% of their paychecks each month, students graduate with the program with an average of $8,000 in savings. A 2020 survey of program alumni showed that 80% were still following that advice and had amassed at least six months of living expenses in savings.
Once students complete high school, the organization also helps them find take their next steps, whether that’s the military (1% of students), vocational training (9%), or higher education (90%). The group also provides life-long one-on-one mentoring services. Through advocacy efforts, Starting Right, Now has helped pass bills in Florida to protect unaccompanied youth statewide, making it easier for students to obtain copies of critical documents (like birth certificates) and more.
“We are so thankful for the Foundation. We only started in Pinellas in 2017 and then the pandemic hit and we really had not built up the momentum,” Sokolik said. “Having the Foundation’s support has made such a difference in building connections in the Pinellas community.”
Starting Right, Now currently serves 15 students in St. Petersburg and is looking to grow that number to 32; they serve 34 students in Hillsborough County. To learn more about their work and how you can get involved, visit https://startingrightnow.org/.