News Clip
Aging Foster Care Children Get Help With New Grant
(from the Antrim County News, August 2002)
By Ashley Schlesinger
ACN Staff Writer
ANTRIM COUNTY — A nine-county group, which includes Antrim, is the only rural area in the nation working on a new initiative helping youth transitioning from foster care to independent living. The goals of the initiative, called the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, are to aid foster youth so they can take care of themselves, their education and employment, and to involve them in the community.
Shannon Brower, consultant for Michigan's JCYOI, said the initiative is important because the state becomes a foster child's family, but that relationship ends when the child turns 18. "Eighteen-year-olds need a family," Brower said. "We think communities can come together to support the youth, and the grant makes that possible. Some of them haven't graduated from high school at 18 and they'll be in the process of learning to live on their own, which is difficult any time."
To solicit community involvement in the program, Brower attended the Antrim/Kalkaska Multi-Purpose Collaborative Body meeting Aug. 16. "We are very supportive of the initiative," said Bob Lewis, social services supervisor for the Antrim/Kalkaska Family Independence Agency. "It's definitely going to help children aging out of foster care." Foster children in Antrim County and other area counties will be the only rural youth to be helped by JCYOI during the first round of grants it is giving out. The county group - Antrim, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Emmet, Charlevoix, Leelanau, Benzie, Manistee and Wexford - was chosen by the state, along with Detroit, as the two areas where it wanted to initiate the program, called JCYOI.
JCYOI funds the program in cities, but chose Michigan as the only state it asked to submit a grant proposal. JCYOI, which is funded jointly by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Casey Family Programs, only accepts grant applications from locations it invites to apply. Michigan was chosen because the Casey foundations have a working relationship with the state, Brower said. Once the state was asked to apply for a grant from the private, nonprofit organizations, the Michigan Family Independence Agency had an initial planning group look at demographics and history of shared services in an area to decide where to fund. The state is still in the process of writing the grant application, but Brower said the state is in constant contact with JCYOI, so she is certain the grant will be accepted.
To get the proposal accepted, areas must have advisory boards in place to help create the plan, Brower said. She is going to different county groups, looking for 10 to 15 community partners and 10 to 15 foster youth from the county cluster to participate on the boards. The advisory boards are two of four key components of the initiative, which helps youth ages 14 to 23 who were placed in foster care or with relatives because they were abused or neglected. The first key component is the Youth Advisory Board. It will engage current and former foster children on the local, state and national levels by asking them to design and run the board. It will also be given funds to grant to foster youth, which will help them in the transition from foster care to independent living.
The second component is the Community Advisory Board made up of community members. The board's main goal is to familiarize the youth with the community and its societal structures. Other requirements are evaluation of the program, and development of a Youth Opportunity Passport. The passports are individual accounts for youth to expand their own finances and have money for short-term expenses, such as car repair.
