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Samanthya Rennings hated her last name. What did it mean from a father she didn't know and a mother in jail?

Sam, 19, was on her own, anyway, out of foster care, growing away from her past.

But alone. Nowhere to go for the holidays.

So last year she headed for a faith conference in Omaha, where a Bible verse hit her hard - Ezekiel 16.

"The message is about being unwanted," Sam said, "but that God wants us and loves all of us."

It inspired her to sign up for an overseas mission trip during her spring break at Grand View University in Des Moines.  See the rest of this article here.

Project Everlast, the Initiative's partnership with the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, has created a collaboration with One World Community Health Center in Omaha, NE. to help improve health care outcomes for youth in foster care.

"These young people have made me understand why building assets for youth aging out of foster care is so important," remarked a participant at the 2010 CFED Assets Learning Conference in Washington, DC. On September 22-24, 2010, four Young Fellows from the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative presented at the Conference and discussed how building assets has helped them as they begin to make the transition from foster care to successful adulthood.

Applications for the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute's (CCAI) 2011 Internship Program are now available.  The Foster Youth Internship (FYI) Program is for young adults who spent at least 24 consecutive months in foster care at any point in their life and who have completed at least four semesters of higher education by May 31, 2011.  CCAI places these interns in Congressional offices in Washington, DC for a nine-week internship program.  Housing, travel, and a weekly stipend are provided by CCAI.  Applications are accepted now until January 7, 2011.  The program will run May 31-July 30, 2011.