In its early years HEY was one of the first to call attention to the needs of youth aging out of the foster care system.
- Providing more housing for emancipated youth through partners such First Place for Youth and Larkin Street Youth Services
- Developing IDA’s for emancipated youth that became adopted by the San Francisco Human Service Agency and Independent Living Program
- Creating a San Francisco Resource Directory for Emancipated Youth
- Facilitating the adoption of Guardian Scholars program that supported emancipated youth in 2 and 4 year institutions
- Raising the visibility of emancipated youth and their needs through the many events sponsored during the month of May as well as year-round coupled with their HEY e-Newsletter
- Creating the HEY Emancipated Youth Advocacy Board (EYAB) which has provided youth leadership opportunities as well as income resources
- Instituting the first Bay Area National Foster Care Month celebrations and subsequently Job Shadow Day, the first foster care youth focused job shadow day in San Francisco which linked interested foster youth with community mentors for a day
- Coordinating organizations and lobbying for Healthy Kids & Young Adults (HKYA) program in San Francisco
- Organizing the Campaign for Safe Transitions with partner agencies was for all California foster youth aging out of the system at 18 years old to have access to housing and support to make a safe transition into adulthood and become productive members of the community
- Contributing to policy creation benefiting emancipated youth
- Serving as strong advocates and content experts for and about emancipated youth
From 2006 to present HEY built on its work of managing policy strategies, to gradually becoming recognized as a supportive intermediary and capacity building agency, with such projects as:
Provided Local Research and Served as Information Hub for issues regarding current and former foster youth:
- HEY has produced a bi-weekly e-Newsletter for over 7 years and counting (the e-Newsletter has been rebranded as a TAYSF product). Each newsletter is filled with policy information affecting foster youth, foster care related articles, and upcoming local events to a growing readership of 3000+ subscribers – the large leadership is largely credited to HEY’s greatly improved and interactive website which attracts over 1000 page views per month. The readership consists of individuals working with foster youth, youth, and community members who wish to remain informed about the issues and policies affecting current and former foster youth.
- Added new locally based resources including HEY Guide: Housing – Practical Advice on How to Find and Keep Housing for Transitional Age and Former Foster Youth. The HEY Guide: Housing was researched and written by three youth who have experience in the foster care and homeless systems and is intended to be used by any youth looking for housing. The free guide was released in May 2009 and can be downloaded at HEY Publication page. It includes practical advice about searching for, keeping, and paying for various types of housing, as well as sample rental applications and leases, and interactive games to help youth evaluate a housing option’s suitability.
- HEY Guide: Youth Empowerment. This tool was originally going to be HEY’s Toolkit: Replicating the EYAB Model. The Guide provides a step by step framework to incorporate and empower youth leaders in public and private agency working with, or on behalf of youth. The Guide is the foundation of many of HEY’s technical assistance work and is readily available on the HEY website. At the time of this report over 750 guides have been downloaded from the website, and so we estimate over 1000 copies are in digital distribution.
- Completed HEY’s Emancipation Research Project (ERP), a two-year project which consisted of formal, in-depth interviews, informal conversations, and group discussions with professionals and youth involved in the county’s dependency system and the emancipation process. Topics discussed included personal emancipation experiences, official transition planning, and perceptions of stakeholders’ roles. The ERP has inspired and engaged important discussions on the role of and misconceptions between the stakeholders and interagency procedures. Once the interviews were complete and initial findings were compiled in a formal report (see Emancipation Research Project Year 1-2 Compilation Report attached) which contained over 12 issue papers and tools. Following the publication of the report, however, the ERP still held a great deal of usable observational data, but no policy recommendations were put forth. Our intention with the ERP was never to develop policy proposals, but for our selected partner agency to utilize the ERP as a resource for their policy agendas. One such partner was TAYSF, because they have the staff experience and local presence to impact transitional age youth needs. TAYSF has experience drafting RFP’s and a network of local department heads through their work with the recent 2009-2010 Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DYCF) and Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) funding which directed over $3 million to services for transitional age youth (ages 16-24) in San Francisco. Using their experience and data from the ERP the combined HEY/TAYSF team will now support the San Francisco Human Services Agency as they look to reissue a new 3-year contract to a local provider for San Francisco’s Independent Living Skills Program.
- HEY staff have created, contributed to and circulated several position papers with a focus on transitional aged foster youth. The publications include: Foster Youth and Delinquency (Jan 2009); HEY’s EYAB – Youth Development Building Block (Jan 2009); San Francisco Youth Council and Youth HEY’s Response to May 2009 Blue Ribbon Commission Recommendations (May 2009); Ex Parte Dismissal Hearings (July 2009); Connecting Youth and Adult Mental Health Services to Reduce Homelessness Among Emancipated Youth (July 2009); Emancipated Foster Youth Returning to Birth Parents (August 2009); Group Home Involvement in Emancipation Planning (Sept 2009). Intersection of Immigration and Child Welfare (November 2009) (Additionally HEY contributed to: MHA-SF Policy Brief Disconnected Youth Age 16-24 (Feb 2009); A Snapshot of Youth Health and Wellness (Feb 2009); Immigration Related Barriers and Youth in San Francisco: Issues and Challenges Specific to Child Welfare Systems (Dec 2009)
- In order to capture the most genuine and thorough local data and resources about current and former foster youth, HEY has developed the HEY Statistics Sheets an annual set of nine thematic statistic sheets each discussing a specific relevant topic of foster care. HEY Statistics offer relevant information for any person interested in foster care, emancipation and transitional age youth in the Bay Area. HEY Statistics shows the most current statistics regarding foster youth in the Bay Area in many subject areas. Statistics sheets will be released in sets of three with each set annually updated on its release anniversary. HEY Statistics include: 1) Health, Homelessness and Services: Statistics About Current and Former Foster Youth; 2) Health and Disabilities; 3) Measuring Foster Youth Unemployment; 4) Best Practices to Track Former Foster Youth Employment Data; 5) Foster Youth Employment in SF Bay Area; 6) Employment Barriers for Current & Former Foster Youth; 7) Education Statistics about Former Foster Youth
- Integrated HEY and TAYSF website. In 2009 HEY upgraded its website to be completely dynamic and easily editable so all staff members and youth can contribute their blogs posts, articles and pictures. The site was fully integrated with multiple social networking tools, so HEY’s information can be both easily found on the web, as well as spread using social bookmarking sites. HEY have worked with a Search Engine Optimization consultant to increase traffic to our site, and since our ‘soft launch’ on September 21, 2009, we began to see a 724% increase in traffic. Also, a search function within the site makes finding original articles by HEY and community events and news extremely easy to access and utilize for researchers, youth and policy advocates. Following the merger, HEY staff and volunteers have worked closely with the TAYSF team to integrate the current HEY and TAYSF websites utilizing the HEY website as the primary source of data and templates. HEY’s Executive Director provided most of the content, while HEY’s AmeriCorps VISTA and volunteer website designer supported the TAYSF team to create and upload the pages so that the site could be live as of September 27, 2010 in time for HEY and TAYSF’s launch event on Wednesday, September 29, 2010, where the website was unveiled to partner agencies.
Built Advocates:
- Educated over 500 individuals through 21 trainings and workshops about emancipation and child welfare system for local provides so that they can better serve the current or former foster youth with whom they work. Ten of the trainings (reaching 160 individuals) were completely youth led.
- Provided networking opportunity for local partners through the HEY Education Workgroup. The group has held 15 meetings during 2009-2010 and at each meeting, members were informed of current policy, legislation, budget, HEY’s research projects, and other factors that could affect current and former foster youth. Members continued their advocacy for higher education access for former foster youth by coordinating with the John Burton Foundation College Pathways Initiative (http://cacollegepathways.org/). HEY staff provided the initial information and referrals to begin the project and through the HEY Education Workgroup continues to inform community members and youth about it.
- For seven years HEY organized 3 Annual San Francisco celebrations for National Foster Care Month attracting thousands of current and former foster youth, their supporters, and the local Bay Area community to share in the stories and resiliency of this extraordinary population of young adults. For more information visit HEY’s past events page.
- Added 30 new youth advocates to the field through HEY’s 11-month Emancipation Youth Advocacy Board (EYAB). HEY’s EYAB is comprised of 3 – 4 former foster youth committed to advocating on behalf of current and former foster youth. During their 11–month term with HEY, the young adults play an instrumental role in conducting public education, outreach activities, and advocating for programs and services that improve outcomes for current and former foster youth. 30 former foster youth have participated in HEY’s EYAB since its inception in 2003.
- HEY’s EYAB ’09-10 grew HEY’s existing training curriculum by developing four new trainings:
Transitional Out of Care 101
Created and presented by HEY’s Emancipated Youth Advocacy Board (EYAB) members this workshop informs interested adults about the steps involved in the process of transitioning out of the foster care system, as well as challenges and obstacles youth transitioning out face during and after the transition process. This interactive workshop incorporates local statistics, stories, issues (such as mental health and housing needs) that affects a youth’s transition out of the foster care system.
Strategically Sharing Your Personal Story
Created and presented by HEY’s Emancipated Youth Advocacy Board (EYAB) members this workshop informs foster youth and, or clients of an agency, how to balance the value of their personal experience with strategies on how to protect themselves as well as those around them from becoming too vulnerable or exposed.
Exploring Housing Options
Created and presented by one of HEY’s Emancipated Youth Advocacy Board (EYAB) members this workshop provides interested adults and or youth with a map of the different options available to foster youth as they transition from foster care and what each option may mean in terms of housing opportunities. Participants of this workshop will also learn about how different types of out of home placements can provide barriers to youth seeking housing, as well as explore gaps in housing in terms of availability of providers, finances, and family housing availability.
Mental Health Alternatives for Foster Youth
Created and presented by one of HEY’s Emancipated Youth Advocacy Board (EYAB) members, this workshop informs service providers and the foster youth they work with about some of the mental health problems that current and former foster youth are diagnosed with. In addition they will learn how art therapy and traditional therapy can be an advantageous dual therapy plan to help foster youth overcome their challenges within the traditional mental health system.
