In this issue:

1. Upcoming HEY Events

2. Save the Dates—HEY’s Foster Month Celebration

3. HEY Foster Youth Connections Breakfast job shadow event needs youth!

4. Nominations for 2nd Annual Youth Leadership Award Due April 6, 2007

5. Please Plan to Attend the State of the City’s Children Summit

6. Free Tax Preparation from Earn It! Keep It! Save It!

7. Transition Resource Fair—Thursday, March 22, 2007

8. JVS offering Computer Classes

9. SFUSD Awarded Prop 49 Funds

10. Save the Date—5th Annual Frontline Conference: Gangs, Turfs, & Sets

11. California Paid Family Leave Act

12. KQED Internships

13. Chapin Hall Web Conference on March 27th

14. San Francisco’s Chronicle’s coverage of Foster Care.

March 13, 2007

1. Upcoming HEY Events

HEY's 2nd Training of the Year will be April 11th from 9:30-12:30 pm, at SF ILSP, 225 Valencia at Duboce, 10 minute walk from 16th Street BART.  More information to come.

HEY's 1st General Meeting of the Year will be on Wednesday, June 13th from 9-11 am. More information to come.

HEY’s New Website… Like the way our new e-Bulletin looks? Just wait
till you see our website due to launch later this week!

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2. Save the Dates—
HEY’s Foster Month Celebration

National Foster Care Month (May) is right around the corner and you will soon receive more information on each of the following events, but in the meantime please be sure to mark your calendars for the following HEY organized events:

April 26th 2nd Annual Youth Leadership Awards coordinated by HEY and ILSP at 170 Otis Street, San Francisco 4:30-8 pm  For more information contact: Sara Razavi 415-808-4435 or srazavi@uwba.org

May 1st 4th Annual HEY Foster Youth Connections Breakfast (previously known as HEY Job Shadow Day) to benefit Honoring Emancipated Youth (HEY) from 8-9 am at San Francisco's Palace Hotel (2 Montgomery, San Francisco) followed by day of job shadowing by youth with community leaders. The job shadow experience runs from 10-2 pm. For more information contact: Sara at 415-808-4435 or email srazavi@uwba.org.

May 12th 4th Annual “Voices of Youth 2007: Success through Empowerment,” a community carnival and celebration honoring foster youth and their families. There will be free food, community resources, music, and games! Location: San Francisco, Justin Hermann Plaza (near Embarcadero BART) Time: 12:00 until 4:00 Cost: Free

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3. HEY Foster Youth Connections Breakfast job shadow event needs youth!

The job shadow event for the HEY Foster Youth Connections Breakfast needs youth. The job shadow experience runs from 10-2 pm on May 1, 2007.

HEY Representatives will call direct service providers to sign up foster youth for this event.

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4. Nominations for 2nd Annual Youth Leadership Award Due April 6, 2007

Any current or former foster youth (up to 25 years old) can be nominated for the Foster Care Month Youth Awards.  All those nominated will be honored!  We have two honorees categories: Youth (17 and under) and Young Adults (18-25).

This is an opportunity for youth and young adults to be a recognized with gifts and a reception event on Thursday, April 26, 2007. 

For more information or to complete the nomination form download the flyer.

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5. Please Plan to Attend the State of the City's Children Summit

On April 19, 2007, DCYF is hosting the Second biennial State of the City's Children Summit at the Moscone Center. This will be an opportunity for service providers working with children and youth, and civic leaders to learn about and discuss together the issues facing our City's young people, and the adults who work with them and on their behalf. It will be a place to renew our commitment and determination to provide all the critical supports and opportunities needed to allow all of the children, youth, and families in San Francisco to thrive.

The all-day, free event features:

• Keynote Speaker: Mayor Gavin Newsom
• Luncheon Speaker: Geoffrey Canada, author and founder of the Harlem
• Children's Zone
• Amazing performances by SF youth and children
• 40 Workshops

 Questions: contact  Ayoka Turner at Ayoka@dcyf.org or 415-554-9519.

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6. Free Tax Preparation from Earn It! Keep It! Save It!

Free tax preparation sites are now open around the Bay Area through the United Way of the Bay Area’s “Earn It! Keep It! Save It!” campaign.

For a complete listing of tax sites visit www.earnitkeepitsaveit.org.

To order flyers for San Francisco and San Mateo locations email kkoberna@kpmg.com.  Flyers and posters are available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese.

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7. Transition Resource Fair—Thursday, March 22, 2007

For transition age juniors and seniors with disabilities and students in SFUSD Transition programs, parents, youth providers and others.  Direct community linkage to supports and services for these students and their families as students transition.

Thursday, March 22, 2007
3:30 pm 7:30 pm
Milton Marks Conference Center
455 Golden Gate Avenue
(between Polk and Larkin)

Facilities are accessible for people with disabilities. ASL interpreters and any other
disability related accommodations will be available upon request by contacting Diane
Nakaji at 415-904-7178 or email dnakaji@dor.ca.gov.

For more information download the flyer. 

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8. JVS offering Computer Classes

JVS  will be offering beginning level trainings in the following applications: PC/Windows XP, Internet & Webmail, Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Please download the flyer for times and dates throughout March and April. Please have interested participants contact Brian Katz directly either by phone at 415-782-6281 or by email at bkatz@jvs.org.

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9. SFUSD Awarded Prop 49 Funds

 Through the Prop 49 initiative, a state funded program to provide afterschool dollars to public schools across California, SanFrancisco was awarded approximately $1.74 million to create more than 1200 new slots at 17 of the city's public schools.  Of the schools slated to receive funding, 10 will start new programs and 7 will expand their existing programs.

The School Health Programs Department, part of the San Francisco Unified School District, coordinates the Expanded Collaboratives in Excellence and Learning (ExCEL) Afterschool programs.  ExCEL collaborates with community-based organizations to provide healthy, innovative opportunities in before and after school programming at school sites.

Through the Afterschool for All initiative, the City and School District are working together to build a coordinated, quality afterschool system across the city.  Launched in 2005, AFA has already created more that 1,000 new afterschool slots and enrichment opportunities for children and youth in our city.  With this new Prop 49 funding, we are poised to add 1,000 more.

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10. SAVE the DATE
4TH Annual Frontline Conference: Gangs, Turfs, & Sets

Thursday, March 29, 2007, 8-4:30pm
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
Keynote Speaker: NFL Hall of Famer & founder of the Amer-I-Can program Jim Brown
$10- pre-registration $15-day of/ Lunch Provided

Workshops include:                                                                               

• African-American Gangs,  Youth Culture, Barrio Warfare                                             
• Crisis Response, Drug Culture, Girls in gangs                                                              
• Youth Panel: the Way We See It, Street Law
• API: Code of Silence, Re-entry—Straight Outta Lock Up
• Survivors: Healing Circle for the Soul

To register go to www.cjcj.org/frontline

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11. California Paid Family Leave Act

Only 1 out of 4 people in California know about Paid Family Leave, the numbers are lower among young and Latino workers—yet 13 million Californians are eligible for Paid Family Leave benefits to bond with a new child or to care for a seriously ill family member!

Who can receive Paid Family Leave?
All employees who pay into State Disability Insurance, and are taking time off from work to bond with a newborn baby, newly adopted or foster child, or to care for a seriously ill parent, child, spouse or registered domestic partner.

For more information:

• Visit the California Paid Family Leave website.
• Visit the Employment Development Department's (EDD) website or call EDD at 877-BE-THERE.
• Workers experiencing difficulty taking leave can call Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center: 800-880-4087.
• Call Equal Rights Advocates at 800-839-4372.

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12. KQED Interships

KQED has numerous internships available for the new multi-platform series, QUEST.
Internships include: educational outreach, content production (radio, television, web), and media and community relations.

Visit www.kqed.org/about/internships for individual internship descriptions and to apply.

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13. Chapin Hall Web Conference on March 27th

On March 27, 2007, Chapin Hall will host a web conference on Meeting the Employment and Parenting Needs of Low-Income Families at 12-1 pm Central DT

This web conference will explore efforts to integrate welfare-to-work programs, child welfare programs, and other family supports. Panelists will discuss how TANF and child welfare programs can collaborate on strategies to prevent the need for intervention by the child welfare system and better support low-income families.

Moderator: Martha Shirk, Author, On Their Own: What Happens to Kids When They Age Out of the Foster Care System

For more information visit www.chapinhall.org.

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14. San Francisco’s Chronicle’s coverage of Foster Care

Please see the link below for the most recent coverage, and as always you may contact me if you need links to previous articles from the past month.

March 13, 2007. A Dilemma: Medications for Foster Kids

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