ALUMNI IN ACTION
Dontae Lartigue
Raises the Bar
By Julia Halprin Jackson
The former Guardian Scholar at SJSU is committed to supporting and empowering foster children through compassionate mentorship and practical assistance.
On Oct. 20, 2025, the County of Santa Clara, alongside Abode, a nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness, celebrated the opening of The Hub, a community center that serves foster youth, and Parkmoor Community Apartments, an 81-unit affordable housing complex. This new development represents a new era for The Hub, which has offered support services for foster youth and transitional-age youth (TAY) from its King Street location since 2011. Half of the Parkmoor apartments are allocated for eligible foster and TAY youths.
Also in attendance that day was Dontae Lartigue, ’18 Psychology, CEO of the nonprofit Razing the Bar and dogged advocate for foster youths. A founding member of The Hub, Lartigue is all too familiar with the ins and outs of the foster care system, and can recite data about the overrepresentation of foster care youths and transitional-age youth affected by the criminal justice system, especially emancipated youths of color who lack access to affordable housing, higher education or a steady income.
“I don’t think any young person should emancipate and end up homeless, whether it’s on day one or within a year or two of emancipation,” says Lartigue. “There are lots of resources being pumped into housing support; no child should leave the system and end up homeless. No child should end up in a carceral system. What type of societal impact do we want to make?”
Dontae Lartigue. Photo: Courtesy of the County of Santa Clara.
The impact of a powerful mentor
Driven by that central question, Lartigue has dedicated his career to providing the best possible transitions for foster and transitional-age youth. The trick, he says, is two-fold: First, young people need strong, consistent relationships — mentors, advisers, educators, a community of peers who can share resources. Second, everyone, regardless of their background, deserves access to stable housing.
These two issues have informed the shape of his own life.
As a child growing up in Northern California, Lartigue and his three siblings were raised primarily by their grandmother, who died of cancer when Lartigue was only 8 years old. He and his siblings were often separated, sometimes living with relatives, sometimes in foster care. The change of environments, housing instability and the threat of domestic violence contributed to an unnamed grief that led Lartigue to act out.
“I was torn away from my biological family, and no one really told me what was going on,” he says. “I started bouncing from place to place. Finally, I met a married couple that became my foster parents, and me and my foster dad became really close. He got me into this mindset that I can be successful. I can be a leader in my community. [He taught me that] life is about making choices and the perspective you have.”
His foster father died when Lartigue was still a teenager, and yet his words had already made an impact. Following his death, Lartigue moved to an independent living program in downtown San José, where a case manager noticed his charisma and invited him to join the Joint Foster Youth Task Force Commission in Santa Clara County, a group seeking feedback from foster youth.
“My papa always taught me that if I get the opportunity to do something positive, then I should do it, no matter how big or small,” he says. “He used to tell me to be the young man he knew I could be.”
Dontae Lartigue (center) with Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg (far left), U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (in pink), and other local officials at the grand opening of The Hub on Oct. 20, 2025. Photo courtesy of the County of Santa Clara.
Education is the way through
Lartigue soon realized that his voice held power. The commission helped formalize his vision: a future where foster and transitional-age youth could access the necessary resources to not only survive, but truly thrive. He became a state youth ambassador and advocated for the passage of Assembly Bill 12, a law coauthored by fellow Spartan and former California Assemblymember Jim Beall, ’74 Political Science, that created California’s Extended Foster Care (EFC) program, allowing eligible youths in the child welfare and probation systems to remain in foster care until age 21 (previously, services ended at age 18).
He pursued his associate’s degree at De Anza College and later transferred to San José State to study psychology. He became a father, which inspired him to double his efforts as a scholar and community leader.
He joined even more boards — the Lived Experience Advisory Board of Silicon Valley (LEABsv), the Santa Clara County Continuum of Care Board, the De Anza College Student Services Committee and the board of directors for Pivotal, an education and career support nonprofit. His time at SJSU, both as a student and as a member of the Guardian Scholars program, which supports former foster youths, reinforced his belief in the importance of higher education.
“San José State is a really great institution and a great community,” he says. “I got connected to EOP [Education Opportunity Program] and the Guardian Scholars, and was part of an initiative called Brother to Brother through the Black Student Services Center [now Black Leadership and Opportunity Center]. All of these groups really supported me and my family and made sure that we were taken care of. People would hear my story and encourage me to apply for scholarships, some of which I got. People wrapped their arms around me at school and made sure that I could not only do well in school, but really thrive. Education is the way through.”
While still a student at SJSU, Lartigue founded Razing the Bar. Together with community partners, including Santa Clara County, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Destination: Home, Excite Credit Union and Sobrato Philanthropies, Lartigue and his small team secured two houses and an apartment in San José to house a number of emancipated foster youths and transitional-age youths.
“I want young people to get help, but I don’t want them to feel like they should be grateful for any type of service,” he says. “The service they get should be impeccable. It should be top-tier and very effective and efficient. It should be led with dignity and compassion.”
“People would hear my story and encourage me to apply for scholarships, some of which I got. People wrapped their arms around me at school and made sure that I could not only do well in school, but really thrive. Education is the way through."
— Dontae Lartigue
“I would tell my younger self that even though it feels like no one cares about your future and the resources you need to thrive, time does. If you give yourself time, you [just might] see your life change before your eyes.”
— Dontae Lartigue
Next steps
Reflecting on The Hub’s latest chapter, Lartigue is hopeful that this is just one step closer to closing gaps for foster and transitional-age youths. There’s no one solution to systemic issues, no Band-Aid that can cover the trauma of institutionalized inequity — and The Hub is a significant accomplishment, years in the making.
“I tell my kids all the time that what I’ve learned in life is that it’s one thing to have the privilege to potentially do something, and it’s another thing to have access to that at a high level,” he says. “I got the privilege to go to San José State, but did I have access to all the resources that would help me thrive? There’s a difference. Between [access to affordable] housing, education and health care, foster youths should never have to spend a day homeless.”
While his tireless work is ongoing, Lartigue recognizes the importance of celebrating every win — and witnessing The Hub find its forever home is a critical accomplishment.
“At Razing the Bar, our model is to get young people into communal housing, teach them life skills like financial management or relationship skills, and help them transition into independent units or even permanent supportive housing,” he says. “We work on building up their skills, getting them to be more disciplined and autonomous and have agency over their life. They learn to budget, make plans of action, build their credit. [We want them to] develop the skills they need to maintain their stability, find upward mobility and thrive in their community so that they can contribute to our communities at a high level.”
When asked what advice he’d share with his younger self, the young person who was lost in the system and working hard to find a way to help others, Lartigue’s response is characteristically profound.
“I would tell my younger self that even though it feels like no one cares about your future and the resources you need to thrive, time does,” he says. “If you give yourself time, you [just might] see your life change before your eyes.”
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