Young People to the Front

Evelyn & Christopher on Youth Homelessness, Exploitation in Advocacy, and Showing Up As Your Whole Self

Episode Notes

Episode Notes:

What happens when the people closest to the problem are the last ones supported by the system?

In this episode, we sit down with Evelyn Karina Rodriguez (they/them) — artist, activist, researcher, and founder of 404 Found — and Christopher Hendricks, youth system strategist and MSW candidate at Cal State Fullerton. Both are rooted in Southern California, and both found their way to youth homelessness advocacy not by choice, but because the work found them.

Together, they get honest about what it actually looks like to advocate from lived experience — the code-switching required for survival, the "favorite child" phenomenon that rewards polished voices over authentic ones, and what it means to show up audaciously in spaces that weren't built for you.

They also dig into what's missing: real mentorship pipelines, intergenerational knowledge transfer, and organizations that move beyond trauma-informed language toward trauma-informed action.

In this episode:

• Art as a tool for youth engagement beyond vocalization
• The class system inside advocacy spaces
• When sharing your story funds an org but doesn't build your future
• Covert harm, stonewalling, and leadership that can't navigate its own emotions
• What 404 Found is building differently — and why it took five years to get there
• Recommendations for the Office of Child Protection and beyond