HCYR 2008 graduate Jacob Favela, now a freshman majoring in Music at San Antonio College, is the recipient of the Third Annual Grace Foundation Grant presented in Austin in November. Jacob was chosen by the Foundation to honor his commitment to education and the creative arts after he placed himself in foster care, voluntarily leaving a life on the streets to better himself, finding his way to HCYR in early 2006.

He has already made significant inroads into a future career in the music industry: his collaboration with HCYR music producer Tony Young started him on a path that has already led to state and national recognition of his abilities as a leader and an artist.

A trio of music videos and a CD of his original music produced at our recording studios after he arrived at HCYR led to his attending a national leadership conference in Washington D.C., speaking on "Forgiveness" at another national conference in Denver, and being named the Texas Youth of the Year by the Department of Child Protective Services. He is now enrolled at SAC, holding a 4.0 gpa in his first semester, and is on a path to a degree in music production.

The Grace Foundation provides healthcare, education, career training and job placement to young adults who have survived homelessness. The Foundation is aimed at helping individuals whose lives have been affected by abuse and poverty, causing them to become homeless at a young age, and specifically targets young adults who have demonstrated a desire to leave the streets in order to begin cultivating a more fulfilling life.

The Foundation is the result of the personal missions of co-founders Patrice Pike and Todd Young. Leaving home when she was 16, Pike was able to make it through that difficult time in her life through the help of people who recognized her struggle, including teachers and mentors. Her own path has led her to become an internationally recognized songwriter and performer, loved in the Austin music scene, having gained fame for winning Grand Prize in the USA Songwriting Competition and becoming a finalist on the CBS reality show Rock Star.

It has been an especially fortuitous match that Jacob’s story has the hint of paralleling hers, and that the Foundation has chosen him as its 2008 recipient.