A foundation-funded advocacy push to help pair up full-time life coaches with older foster youth in New York City has now secured an investment in next year’s budget.
The Fair Futures campaign has been calling for an additional $50 million to the 2020 budget since winter. The aim is to improve support for foster youth, especially the young men and women who either have aged out of the system already or soon will. The nearly $93 billion budget agreement was announced and includes $10 million to partially start the new program. This is in line with an April proposal from City Council that responded to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s original budget pitch.
It was included in the set budget for the ACS (Administration for Children’s Services), which is in charge of the city’s dozens of foster care and family support non-profit organizations.
Jess Dannhauser on Fair Future’s Campaign
Jess Dannhauser, who is President and CEO of the human services nonprofit Graham Windham, had this to say in an email to the Chronicle on behalf of the Fair Future’s campaign: “The many young people and organizations that make up the Fair Future Coalition are thrilled. We are very grateful to the City Council for its tireless advocacy and to the de Blasio Administration for including this investment in the budget. New York City is leading the way nationally. It is also sending a clear message to young people in or transitioning from foster care that the City believes in them and their future.”
Fair Future for Older Foster Youth
The advocates of Fair Futures pitched a similar model to programs that were designed by Graham Windham and New York Foundling. Trained and paid coaches will work with foster youth from middle school to age 26. They will provide a variety of guidance. This can include anything from information on education to housing to career preparation to social and emotional support.
The caseworkers who are already assigned to all foster youth are in charge of extensive record-keeping and compliance checks. Life coaches will focus more on the personal enrichment of these older foster youth. Some of these young men and women are overcoming trauma, limited resources, and housing instability.
The First in the Nation
Many believe that New York is going to be the first in the nation to make this kind of public investment for long-term mentoring for foster youth. There are independent nationwide programs that offer paid, intensive, and long-term mentoring for at-risk youth. Many foster care systems have also recently increased the other kinds of programming for their transition-age youth.
The Fair Futures plan’s approval is representative of a new type of commitment to neglected and abused youth who have become the responsibility of the state.
Behind the Campaign for Older Foster Youth
This campaign was organized and directed by nonprofit executives as well as child welfare advocates. It was led by Katie Napolitano, who was formerly part of the Tiger Foundation. The lobbying firm, Capolino+Company, as well as a public relations firm with ties to City Hall, BerlinRosen, were also part of it. The funders included the New York Community Trust, the Hilton Foundation, and the Redlich Horwitz. The chair of the City Council committee that oversees ACS, Stephen Levin, also supported the effort.
This campaign was also fueled by the many voices of current and former foster youth. These older foster youth rallied together on the steps of City Hall and in every borough, as well as writing letters to the elected officials, and speaking to reporters.