North Texas company launches pilot program for youth aging out of foster care

Helen Carona can drop adjectives like "lucky" and "blessed" when it comes to the global HOA and community management company her husband started in 1979.

For her, the work goes beyond Associa's nearly 24,000 employees in the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Spain. It's about helping people who need support.

"For me personally, it's something that I have always kind of thought I would do at some point. And I don't really know where the desire came from, but it was something that my husband and I both just felt kind of a calling to do," Carona said.

Carona, Associa's chief corporate officer and executive vice president, is married to former Texas state Sen. John Carona. They have three biological children and two children they fostered and later adopted.

Child advocacy – and the sometimes difficult realities of foster care – shaped her perspective, she said. Associa partnered with the Transition Resource Action Center, or TRAC, to create a workplace program for young people aging out of foster care. 

The company launched an internship program at its Richardson headquarters specifically for those individuals.

"Something that has just always really tugged at my heartstrings are those kids that make it all the way to 18 in foster care and don't have a support system or a family to help them make that transition into adulthood," she said. "And that really is what TRAC does. That's their mission."

TRAC found a corporate partner in Associa, which has opened its doors to young adults and exposed them to opportunities they might otherwise miss.

Associa's office space and staff provide interns with personal and professional development. Keon Hollingshed is one of four interns in the first cohort. Carona said some applicants were assertive enough to apply for full-time jobs.

Hollingshed, a native of Illinois, said he struggled to manage his emotions after family deaths, depression, moving to Texas, and what he described as youthful pride. 

By 18, he said, living with his mother was no longer an option.

"I wanted to be older than I was. And I had to deal with those responsibilities, wanting to be older than I was, and wanted to take myself out of a good situation, which was a stable home," Hollingshed said.

The 24-year-old said each time he made progress, he seemed to fall backward. He couldn't find stable housing or work.

Eventually, he sought help from TRAC.

"I felt like I deserved help, and I didn't know how that really looked," he said.

TRAC connected him with Associa, but that didn't guarantee a job. Hollingshed applied for the internship and was accepted. He said the experience gave him confidence to speak in rooms he never imagined himself in.

"Now I know I'm young. I don't have finances together. I'm not business savvy 100%, but I've been studying mergers and acquisitions for a couple years now, and this is a great company to learn from," he said.

Carona said she believes the program has been a success. The internship ends in two weeks, and discussions about the next chapter are underway.

"The truth of the matter is, they have the same dreams as every other kid has. They have talents and skills and abilities," she said. "What they don't always have is opportunity. And that's all they're really looking for is just a chance, a chance to show what they can do."

Hollingshed said his time at the company may not be over. He has a job lined up and said he appreciates what the opportunity has done for his life.

"It wasn't pretty at first. I still might have been hardheaded, but in the last six years I've grown into a – I would say the person that I should be," he said.