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Without a support system, most students would have a hard time getting through college. That's especially true for youth transitioning out of foster care. With no family to rely on, Toni Little found that support from the Orphan Foundation of America (OFA), which gave her a $4,000 scholarship to help her through Johnson State College in Vermont.
A letter in the mail last month pushed Onchantho Am one step closer to her goal of becoming a judge: She was accepted into law school. Am, who entered foster care when she was 16, plans to enroll full-time at Stetson University College of Law in Florida this fall and will use money from her Opportunity Passport™ to get started.
Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative Executive Director Gary Stangler accepted the American Public Human Services Association's 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award. The award, handed out last month in Washington, D.C., is given annually to recognize an individual's lifetime contributions to the field of human services.
Rob Geen has spent his career using research to better inform all aspects of child welfare policy during his past stints at Child Trends. Now, Geen is bringing his expertise to the Annie E. Casey Foundation's effort to ensure that states have the resources and know-how to implement the new Fostering Connections legislation.
- Tennessee Seeks Ways to Help Youth Aging Out of Foster Care
- Savings Plan Benefits Teens Leaving Foster Care
- Building Assets for Youth (PDF)
>> Press Release (PDF) - Atlanta Opportunity Passport™ participants talk about the "Celebration of Excellence" (MP3, 4 min, 5.6MB)
- Read the Initiative's E-Update >>
Special Topics
Opportunity Passport™ participants at the Youth Leadership Institute Building Assets for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care: Findings from the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative
More than five years after launching one of the nation's most innovative matched savings programs for extremely disadvantaged youth, the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative is releasing new findings showing that more than 3,000 young people aging out of foster care collectively have saved more than $3.1 million. This kind of resilience extends even to youth who face additional challenges, such as young parents and those youth who have been homeless at some point in their lives.
Learn more (PDF, 4MB) >>
Focus on Results
Focusing on the results, or priorities, that we want to achieve as a nation for children and families is an approach to developing priorities that can be easily understood and embraced by both policymakers and the general public. Policy priorities based on evidence about achieving results then drive decisions about specific policy options, programs, practices and investment of taxpayer dollars.
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