We help youth find their voices
through arts mentoring and education.
Total Youth Served
National Foster Care Month!
With May being National Foster Care month, we want to bring light to some alarming statistics about foster care in the United States.
On any given day, roughly 424,000 children are in foster care across the country. Many of these children end up in foster care due to parent incarceration, alcohol or drug abuse. But the most common reason is due to neglect. All of this can impact their mental health.
Over a quarter of these children will leave the foster care system via adoption while nearly half of them will go back home to their parents or primary caretaker. Nearly 22,000 children will have been in foster care for over five years, as of 2019.
There are also over 120,000 children waiting to be adopted from the foster care system. Roughly 24,000 teenagers each year turn 18 and age out of the system before they are able to be adopted.
What happens when they emancipate out of the system?
At 18, these teens have to fend for themselves completely. They have to find a place to live, a job to financially support themselves and, if they are still in high school, finish their education.
According to Forever Family, within two to four years of aging out of the system:
40% were homeless
40% were receiving public assistance or were incarcerated
40% experienced drug or alcohol abuse
46% had not finished high school
51% were unemployed
84% became parents
Create Now works to not only help children through the arts, but also prepare teens for the potential to live on their own. Our classes teach these young people how to prepare healthy meals. They’re learning skills that can lead to careers in photography, fashion design, journalism and creative writing. Our graphic design program teaches them how to generate logos and other content that can be used in the business sector.
Founded in 1996, Create Now serves children from infancy to 24 through arts programs in many disciplines.
We focus our efforts on kids who have been abused, neglected, orphaned, made homeless, incarcerated or experiencing other severe challenges – the “forgotten children.”
We have reached more than 42,000 of the most vulnerable youth in Southern California over the last 21 years.
Arts Programs
Create Now’s programming focuses on eight main areas
Visual Arts
Music
Literary Arts
Digital Media
Performing Arts
Fashion Design
Cultural Journeys
Culinary Arts
Videos
About Create Now
Writing Program for Children at Vaughn
Video produced by foster youth
Ready to Learn at Urban Compass
Highlighted Programs
National Foster Care Month!
With May being National Foster Care month, we want to bring light to some alarming statistics about foster care in the United States. On any given day, roughly 424,000 children are in foster care across the country. Many of these children end up in foster care due to...
Art from the Sole
Havaianas has been a great partner of Create Now and our “Art from the Sole” program provided through Zoom on December 12 was no exception! Through their support, youth facing challenges from Angel’s Flight Shelter, Penny Lane Centers, Koreatown...
Homelessness In Los Angeles
While Los Angeles is one of the most affluent cities in the world, at the beginning of 2020 it was estimated that 17,000 children were homeless. Even more young people are expected to become homeless due to the COVID pandemic. LAHSA Executive Director Heidi Marston...
Arts & Crafts at LAFH
Create Now’s Arts and Crafts program at LA Family Housing has been provided virtually, but that doesn’t mean the kids missed out on any of the fun! Our volunteer Kelle Meschede helped the students make their craft projects over Zoom. LAFH staff member Lesem Puerto was...
Cooking Program Includes Shake Shack
Create Now volunteers Ali Clarke from the Food Network and Santos Loo hosted a virtual cooking course for teenagers facing homelessness at the Angels Flight Youth Shelter near downtown LA. Through this four-week course, students learned kitchen basics, like knife...
Photography for Foster Youth
Teenage foster girls living at Crittenton Services in Fullerton really enjoyed Create Now's Photography workshop taught by Robin Laananen. She travels extensively with bands to shoot photos for Rolling Stone, Universal Music Group, and other music publications,...
Thank You to Our Donors
Create Now wants to send a huge ‘Thank You’ to our supporters who have generously supported our mission to bring therapeutic arts programs to youth-in-need. We would especially like to thank the Dwight Stuart Youth Fund, the Stranahan Foundation, the...
“Give and Get” Auction – A Success!
Our auction has closed and we want to thank everyone who was involved through donations and bids! We raised nearly $1000 and we're excited to put that money to good use in 2021! Here's more info about the auction that was held. Bid on fantastic items and...
Sharing Resources
In addition to producing different arts workshops, Create Now distributes free materials that reach the most disadvantaged kids in the region. Many families are suffering from Covid-19, plus lack of employment. Through the support of our partners and donors,...
Halloween Happiness
Unfortunately, this year kids aren't able to go trick-or-treating for Halloween. Luckily, disadvantaged children and teenagers living at the Imperial Courts housing project in Watts are still able to enjoy Halloween thanks to students and families at the...
Honors & Awards
Create Now is proud to be recognized by these distinguished organizations.
