There are many worthwhile ways for organizations to invest in foster youth. Connected by 25 has identified education and economic well-being as powerful issues to start with in challenging ourselves and our colleagues to make the greatest difference.
Recent surveys indicate that young people today tend to become financially independent between ages 23 and 25. Most young people, with the support of their families and community networks, make this transition successfully. Unfortunately, there are also many young people who lack adequate nurturing, guidance, and support. For these youth, the risks of adolescence often overshadow the opportunities.
Connected by 25 is a plan for ensuring that young people are connected by age 25 to institutions and support systems that will enable them to succeed throughout adulthood. It offers a co-investment work plan for foundations and philanthropists interested in improving the economic well-being and financial success of young people preparing to leave foster care.
In recent years, several foundations have taken the lead in launching innovative initiatives to help prepare these youth for adult responsibilities and living on their own. Building on this work, the Foster Care Work Group—a collaboration of eight foundations within the Youth Transition Funders Group—has outlined a framework for investments that will help youth acquire the knowledge, skills, habits, and opportunities that will lead to economic success.
Plan for Investing in Successful Futures for Foster Youth
This publication presents the key concepts of the Connected by 25 series. It explains what life is like for young people in foster care, and describes the opportunities and challenges they face as they prepare for adulthood.
Connected by 25's core plan calls for funders to invest in programs that teach young people what they need to know to achieve economic well-being and financial success as they prepare to leave foster care. It also provides a framework for measuring and reporting the results of these programs.
Creating programs that help young people become economically successful is affordable and doable. Such programs promise significant rewards not only for youth themselves, but also for their communities far into the future.
Financing Entrepreneurship Programs for Youth Transitioning out of Foster Care
Small business start-ups rarely live up to the fast track to millions that many dream of. But entrepreneurship programs offer several benefits regardless of whether youth end up starting profitable businesses.
The skills associated with entrerpeneurship include the ability to take initiative and creatively seek out and identify opportunities; develop budgets and project resource needs and potential income; understand options for developing needed capital and trade-offs associated with different options; and communicate effectively and market oneself and one's ideas.
This brief discusses strategies that program devleopers and community leaders can employ to support entrepreneurship opportunities for youth in care.
Financing Asset-Building and Financial Education Programs for Youth Transitioning out of Foster Care
High levels of consumer debt, low savings rates, and increasing bankruptcy rates have raised concern among policymakers and community leaders about financial literacy in the US—particularly among youth—and its impact on people's ability to manage their finances and accumulate assets.
To have prospects for a financially successful future, youth exiting foster care must be equipped with skills and knowledge to make informed decisions about their finances, to figure out how their finances fit into their transition and life plans, and to develop the savings habits and behaviors needed to accumulate assets and achieve their long-term goals.
This brief describes financing strategies that policymakers, program developers, and community leaders can pursue to support asset-building and financial education programs for youth in foster care.
Financing Workforce Development Programs for Youth Transitioning out of Foster Care
Workforce development programs build skills and knowledge through mentoring, internships, apprenticeships, job shadowing, career exploration, on-the-job and customized training, resume writing and interviewing, and other work experiences. Many programs also focus on professional communciation, team work, positive attitudes, critical thinking, problem solving, and strong work ethics.
Such programs provide critical support to help youth in foster care become successfully employed and move toward self-sufficiency. This brief provides strategies that program developers and community leaders can use to support workfoce development programs and services for youth who are preparing to transition out of foster care.