Lauri Collier

Lauri Collier is the director of the LA Opportunity Youth Collaborative, which is a community of organizations working in concert to ensure that every youth is served in a holistic way with a coherent array of complementary and coordinated services. The OYC builds bridges between more than 50 public agencies, service organizations, educational institutions and employers to better connect youth with education, jobs and opportunity. Lauri has over 20 years of experience working with vulnerable populations, and her expertise is working with child-welfare programs serving transition age youth. Previously, as vice-president of housing and operations at St. Anne’s, she worked in collaboration with DCFS Youth Development Services to bring the Transitional Housing Plus (THP+) funding stream into Los Angeles County in partnership with DCFS and licensed one of the first Transitional Housing Plus Foster Care (THP+FC) housing programs in Los Angeles County. She also served as the director of the Los Angeles Transition Age Youth Collaborative, which developed an evidence-based, trauma informed, work-force development curriculum in collaboration with Columbia University School of Social Work’s Workplace Center. She expanded the reach of work readiness curriculum by and partnering with over 15 community-based organizations, and the curriculum is currently being embedded into the public workforce system.