Brief History of Inspire

The vision for Inspire began in 2003 with Kristi Perez heard from a local social worker about the need for foster kids to have safe and affordable places to live while they attend college.

Meanwhile, Kristi read many startling statistics about the homeless rates of foster youth and that only 8% of foster kids attended college. This jumped out at Kristi as one of the main reasons the cycle of poverty and abuse tends to repeat itself for many families.

Kristi then envisioned a program that would ignite the potential in foster youth and give them the opportunity to become educated while living in safe housing and receiving support services. She filed the necessary 501(c)(3) paperwork and created the structure of the program and began cultivating supporters and volunteers for the new organization.

Milestones

Oct. 2005– Opened first home in Riverside for five 18 year old girls just exiting foster care

October 2006– Held our first “Make a Difference” dinner and auction

February 2007– Opened 2nd home for 5 more Inspire girls and a resident advisor close to RCC Riv. 11 participants

June 2007– Held 1st Inspire Invitational to raise funds to start a program for boys

August 2007– Took first two young men into the program with monthly stipends

July 2008– Opened first home for four boys and a resident advisor in Riverside.

February 2010– Opening second home for four more boys and resident advisor in Corona made possible from a grant through Riverside County Economic Development Agency 2nd District

July 2011– Opened a home for 7 young women in Redlands, CA. Inspire is now serving both Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

2015– Opened a girls home in Corona.

Currently, there is capacity for 8 young men and 16 young women in our homes.