Skip Navigation
The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative

what's new • special topics • resources • featured links • contact us • site map • search

Communities

about us • communities • youth engagement • opportunity passport™ • policy

Communities

Communities in Partnership

In order to support its mission of expanding opportunities for youth in foster care who are making transitions to adulthood, the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative is forming a number of community partnerships around the country. Working closely with the Initiative, these communities are implementing three key strategies: Opportunity Passports™, Youth Leadership Boards and Community Partnership Boards.

The Opportunity Passport™ is a tool designed to organize resources to create opportunities–financial, educational, vocational, health care, entrepreneurial, and recreational opportunities–for youth who are leaving or have recently left the foster care system. The goal is to help young people leaving foster care become financially literate; gain experience with the banking system; amass assets for education, housing, health care, and a few other specified expenses; and gain streamlined entry to educational, training, and vocational opportunities.

The Youth Leadership Boards and Community Partnership Boards will serve as vehicles for local leadership, information gathering, identification of priorities, and implementation of strategies–such as the Opportunity Passport™–to positively impact youth exiting foster care.

The Initiative is partnering with 12 communities. In three other communities, the Initiative is partnering with other foundations. Requests to partner with the Initiative will be made on an invitation-only basis.

> Back to Top

Current Partnerships

Atlanta, GA — Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta is one of the most effective community foundations in the country for improving the quality of life for residents in the metropolitan area. The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta has created the Metropolitan Youth Opportunities Initiative that serves young people transitioning from foster care in the Atlanta region. Through partnerships with the United Way, UPS Stores, and Kaiser Permanente, this Initiative has obtained over 130 Opportunity Passports™, additional resources, and opportunities for transitioning youth.

Contact: Tyronda Minter, 404-588-3209
The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
50 Hurt Plaza, Suite 449
Atlanta, GA 30303

Denver, CO — Mile High United Way

The Mile High United Way is the grantee for the work in helping youth transition from foster care. They have been a leader in providing services to the Denver community, including implementing the 211 Resource Line, which gives citizens one number to call when they need access to human services or when they want to make a meaningful contribution of time and goods. The Mile High United Way has been at the forefront in establishing Youth Individual Development Accounts and has promoted a national partnership through the United Way of America with the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative.

Contact: Kippi Clausen, 303-561-2386
Mile High United Way
2505 18 th Street
Denver, CO 80211

Des Moines, IA — Youth Policy Institute of Iowa

The Youth Policy Institute of Iowa (YPII) is a nonprofit organization that assists state and local community agencies in all aspects of developing and implementing positive youth development policies and programs. YPII is partnering with a wide range of community-based organizations and the Department of Human Services to enroll 100 Opportunity Passport™ participants. They are doing this through negotiated contracts with private service providers who will integrate the Opportunity Passport™ into on-going supports and services they deliver to youth in care and those who have transitioned out of care.

Contact: Carol Behrer, 515-727-4220
Youth Policy Institute of Iowa
7025 Hickman Road, Suite 4
Des Moines, IA 50322

Hartford/Bridgeport, CT — Connecticut Voices for Children

Connecticut Voices for Children - CT Voices for Children seeks to promote the well-being of all of Connecticut's young people through high-quality research and public policy analysis, an active communications program, a commitment to promoting youth leadership and youth voice, and effective citizen mobilization and organizational collaboration. CT Voices for Children is the lead agency responsible for formulating the implementation plan for the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, and plans are now under way to meet key objectives in Hartford and Bridgeport.

Contact: Douglas Hall, Ph.D., 203-498-4240
Voices for Children
33 Whitney Avenue
New Haven, CT 06510

Maine — University of South Maine, Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service

The Maine Youth Opportunities Initiative (MYOI) is a statewide initiative funded by the St. Louis-based Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative and led by the staff of the Youth Development Unit in the Institute for Public Sector Innovation at the Edmund Muskie School of Public Service in Maine. MYOI is about creating community connections, resources, and youth/adult partnerships to benefit young people in transition from foster care. The Opportunity Passport™ is the centerpiece of the partnership between the MYOI and the community. Based on the current projections and status of work to date, at least 75 young people statewide will be enrolled as active participants by the end of the first implementation year, March 2005.

Contact: Marty Zanghi, 207-780-5867

Michigan (Detroit & 10 Northern Counties) — Department of Human Services

As Michigan's public assistance, child, and family welfare agency, the Department of Human Services (DHS), its public and private partners, the youth in their foster care system, and their foster parents all recognize the need to create a new lens through which they view the needs of youth in transition. DHS has successfully facilitated the recruitment of over 400 youth for financial literacy in both the Northern County cluster (youth board - "Let Our Voices Echo") and the Wayne County (Detroit) area. This is a dual site with work in Detroit and a 10-county cluster near Traverse City in northern Michigan.

Contact: Shannon Brower, 231-526-1047
3141 N. Lamkin Drive
Harbor Springs, MI 49740

Contact: Susan Kelly, 734-547-9164
213 Oakwood Street
Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197
Fax: 734-483-6224

Nashville, TN —Vanderbilt Child and Family Policy Center

Vanderbilt Child and Family Policy Center - Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies (VIPPS) is Vanderbilt's "think tank." It is the place where faculty from different disciplines and schools work together to apply theory to real-world policy problems. The Tennessee Youth Advisory Council has established a youth board that has been instrumental in policy change with the state agency that works with foster care, and it has worked with employers in the Nashville area to obtain employment for youth in care. The Community Partnership Board has established partnerships with U.S. Bank, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), and other businesses in the community to assist with providing opportunities for youth. They were recently featured in the Nashville Tennesean for the outstanding work that they have begun with the community.

Contact: Kim Crane Mallory, 615-322-8505
Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies
1207 18th Avenue, South
Nashville, TN 37212

Providence, RI — Casey Family Services

Casey Family Services (CFS) leads the Rhode Island Initiative and is also the administrator of School to Career. The key assets for Providence are close relationships to the state child welfare agency, the Making Connections (AECF) work, and the leadership of the Providence division of CFS. Implementation of the Initiative in Providence replicates approaches and lessons learned from earlier sites.

Contact: Jim Gannaway, 401-781-3669
Casey Family Services
1268 Eddy Street
Providence, RI 02905

San Diego, CA — Access Inc.

Access Inc. is a well-positioned organization in the San Diego community providing services to youth in foster care. Their mission is to promote self sufficiency and economic independence among the most vulnerable groups in the community through education, training, and the development of new community resources. Access has operated successful youth, adult, and laid-off worker training programs for over 30 years, and has focused on working with high-risk populations and economically disadvantaged youth since 1989. Through the leadership and support of Casey Family Programs and the San Diego Workforce Partnership , Access Inc. and the San Diego Initiative have organized youth and community stakeholders to provide the expertise and representation to chart the course for short- and long-range objectives of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative in San Diego, now identified as the San Diego Youth Initiative Network.

Contact: Bob Stewart, 858-560-0871
Access, Inc.
2612 Daniel Avenue
San Diego, CA 92111

> Back to Top

"Connected by 25" Co-Investment Sites

Tampa, FL

The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative is investing with the Foster Care Work Group and the Eckerd Family Foundation to test the theory of change developed as presented in Connected by 25, A Plan for Investing in Successful Futures for Foster Youth. The Eckerd Foundation has engaged a broad group of partners including child welfare leaders, community non-profits, and youth to implement a demonstration project that seeks to improve the outcomes for foster youth by addressing their educational, employment, and financial outcomes.

Contact: Jane Soltis, 727-446-2996
The Eckerd Family Foundation
100 North Starcrest Drive
Clearwater, FL 33765

> Back to Top