Jonathan's Path

Empowering Futures: Breaking the Cycle for Foster Teens

We are dedicated to breaking the cycle of repetitive trauma experienced by teenagers in foster care due to multiple placements and plugging the gap of services needed for youth to thrive as they age into adulthood.

Our mission is to create lasting positive change in the lives of these vulnerable youth, ensuring they have the resources and opportunities needed to thrive and build a path towards a brighter, more secure future.

Jonathan’s Path was founded on a simple but powerful belief: every teenager in foster care deserves consistent adults, stable housing, and real access to healing — not just survival.

We are a Tennessee-based nonprofit serving teens in foster care and youth aging out (ages 13–23), with a focus on those who are hardest to place and most at risk of homelessness, exploitation, or poor mental health outcomes.

Who We Serve

We serve:

• Teens currently in foster care
• Youth aging out of foster care without permanency
• Young adults navigating independent living after state custody

Many of the youth we walk alongside have experienced multiple placements, disrupted schooling, trauma, and gaps in access to mental health services. We exist to fill those gaps — relationally and practically.

What We Do

Jonathan’s Path operates a continuum of support designed to reduce instability and increase nights of safety:

🏠 Path Homes

Family-style homes with permanent live-in caregivers — not rotating staff.

Our goal is to stop the constant bouncing from home to home and create a place where teens belong while building the skills and confidence needed for adulthood.

🔑 Path Forward & Path Beyond

Support for youth transitioning into independent living.

We help with:

• Securing leases
• Acting as guarantor when needed
• Budgeting and life skills
• Career navigation
• Continued relational support

The goal isn’t just housing — it’s long-term stability.

📞 The Path Line

A direct-access support line providing rapid, unrestricted help.

Youth can call or text when they need assistance — whether it’s therapy access, transportation, food, move-in costs, or navigating a crisis. We remove red tape and respond quickly.

Our Values

At the heart of Jonathan’s Path are a few core commitments:

• People Who Stay – Consistent adults matter. We build long-term relationships, not short-term interventions.
• Access First. Healing Now. – We believe mental health access shouldn’t require months of waiting or complex approvals.
• Dignity & Voice – Youth are not projects; they are leaders of their own stories. We uplift and center their voices.
• Stability Changes Everything – Housing stability impacts education, employment, mental health, and long-term outcomes.
• Community Responsibility – Foster care is not a state problem; it’s a community responsibility.

Our Heart

Jonathan’s Path exists so that no teen walks into adulthood alone.

Because when a young person has:

• A safe place to sleep
• An adult who answers the phone
• Access to real therapy
• Someone who shows up consistently

They don’t just survive.

They build futures.