09/04/2026
Myleka Holmes described CRCD as a guardian. There is no line on any funding report where that goes.
Her words: “CRCD is like a guardian or parent. They are always willing to assist and answer questions. They make you feel like there’s someone in your corner.”
Our sector counts training hours, credentials earned, job placements, and retention measured at specific quarters after exit. Those numbers are real and we report them carefully. But none of them can see the thing Myleka just named.
What she is describing is continuity. An adult who is still picking up the phone in month nine.
And continuity is the hardest thing for this system to pay for.
Programs are funded on annual cycles. Outcomes are counted inside fixed quarters. A young person who leaves one job for a better paying one can register in the data as a loss rather than a win. A young person who needs a birth certificate to enroll cannot get help paying for it until they are enrolled, so weeks vanish before the clock even starts.
Meanwhile the things young adults are actually navigating do not resolve on a fiscal calendar. Housing. Documents. Caregiving. A bus line that runs late.
Here is the comparison that should sit uncomfortably with all of us. A young person with resources gets four years of college to figure out what they want, then a phone call to a family friend when they are ready. The young people we serve are expected to produce a settled career inside twelve months, while carrying more.
So when Myleka says guardian, she is not describing a program feature. She is describing someone who did not disappear when the reporting period closed.
If we want more outcomes like hers, the relationship has to be fundable, not just the placement.
What would change in your organization if multi year support was the unit we funded, instead of the quarter?
Thank you, Myleka, for saying it plainly.
