Stanford University senior Iberia Zafira recently wrote us the following email: With your support, I was able to achieve my dream of studying abroad in France. As a Stanford in Government Environmental Policy fellow, I interned with BIO Intelligence Service (BIO), an environmental consultancy in Paris. At BIO, I worked on projects such […]
Blog
A Man of Many Talents
Meet Arthur Miller – certified nurse’s aide, youth minister, peer advocate, college student, and future proud soldier. Oh, and former foster youth. Arthur, 22, was placed in the Ohio foster care system at the age of seven. With 10 placements, he has a lot to say about the system: The best thing about foster care […]
Friends for Life
Faith and Kathy were matched in Foster Care to Success’ vMentor Program, the predecessor to the Academic Success Coaching Program in 2008 and have formed a close relationship that is important to both of them. Recently they had the chance to meet, and each of them wrote to tell us about it: Kathy said: I’ve […]
Mr. Talented: Foster Youth as Entrepreneur
Some stories end well; others, in tragedy. Tyrelle (Augustus) Shaw never graduated. He dropped out of school to concentrate on his bow tie business and for a time things went well. In April 2013 his photograph was featured on “Humans of New York,” and his truly original bow ties were sold in several boutiques. However, […]
Back to School for Foster Youth
While preparing for school in September is an exciting time for most students across the U.S., for foster youth it can be downright scary. Casey Family Programs has reported that 65 percent of those who grew up in foster care changed schools seven or more times from kindergarten through their senior year of high school! It’s […]
“I’ll Survive”
Alisha Adkins is a former foster youth survivor. She wrote the poem below while she was in 10th grade struggling to overcome what she described as a “horrible home life”. At the time, the only adult who listened to her and mentored her was her English teacher, who encouraged her to write her feelings down […]
Foster Care By The Numbers
The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) has just released The State of America’s Children® 2012 Handbook. In case you’re not familiar with their work, CDF is an excellent national nonprofit that pays particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. And their new handbook has a lot to say about foster youth. […]
From Foster Youth to Doctor
Southern Illinois University’s Department of Psychology is reporting on one of our students: “DOCTOR Smith’s work has appeared in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Journal of Career Assessment, and Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being.” This is what we like to see: our students earning prestigious titles, degrees and jobs; our students giving back; our […]
We Cannot Fail
Ever wonder what it feels like to be a young person who has aged out of the foster care system and is struggling to put themselves through college? We received an astounding letter from one of our students, Michael from Ohio, detailing just this. He forwarded it to us after sending it to his county […]
A Powerful Partnership
Now that our summer Aim Higher program has wrapped up, we’re hearing more and more from our interns about their day-to-day experiences. One such intern is Nikki Goncalves. Nikki interned with Alliant Credit Union – a close partner in our mission to connect foster youth with the education and training they need to successfully enter adulthood. […]
