By Justin Slaughter on June 30, 2010
By Justin Slaughter, AmeriCorps VISTA Intern
Two Friday nights ago at the Hotel Kabuki in Japantown, San Francisco’s Independent Living Skills Program (ILSP) staff, participants, and supporters boogied down at the 2010 graduation ceremonial dinner and dance, celebrating the success of the many former foster youth who will be leaving the ILSP program this year. Fortunately, I was invited by my HEY colleague, HEY Emancipated Youth Advocacy Board (EYAB) member, and 2010 ILSP College Scholarship recipient Claudia Mendez.
With walls decorated with balloons and a great ambiance facilitated by both a DJ and a projected slideshow of this year’s ILSP events and parties, the dining hall was packed and lively. ILSP staff members were the dinner’s hosts and hostesses and the emcees. After all the guests were seated at the dining table, this year’s graduating honorees entered and were presented and together took their seats. Round after round of applause filled the banquet room. During the dinner, the microphone at the center stage was left on, and anyone with anything on their mind was encouraged to address the entire crowd. Some honorees gave thanks while some service providers and family members and friends gave congratulations (and even some tears of joy).
All the honorees were given upon graduation a luggage bag, house supplies, gift cards, and a living stipend. Some were given special awards, including the College Scholarship awarded to HEY’s Claudia, who voluntarily addressed the crowd:
“I never knew how to answer to people why I was so resilient, until I took a class where I learned that people who are resilient or have survived extranuating circumstances normally have the 3 c’s. Commitment, Control and Challenge. Commitment is when you stick to something no matter what. Control is when you know you have the power to influence the outcome of your life. Challenge is when you take the lessons you have learned from prior experiences and implement it in future obstacles. So, now I tell people I am resilient because I have the 3 C’s. I also said that I was hoping that if they to did not know what to answer that they could also say that it is because they have control, commitment and challenge.”
It was a touching moment to see so many young adults who had gone through so much—before, during, and after foster care—celebrate their prospects for the future.
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Posted in Trends To Watch | Tagged bay area, california, child welfare, foster care, foster youth, san francisco, transitional age youth, youth
By janella parucha on June 25, 2010
By Janella Parucha, HEY Intern
Hello everyone I am the newest intern for HEY. I am currently working towards my B.S. in Health Education with a concentration in community based public health, and a minor in Asian American Studies. I have previously worked as a Peer Educator for Sexual Health PEACH (Peer Educators Advocating Campus Health, 2008-2010) and as the 2008-2009 Academics Coordinator for PACE (Pilipino American Collegiate Endeavor).
After briefly working with Project Reconnect, I was exposed to the problems faced by youth in the juvenile justice system, which inspired me to seek out more information in helping at risk youth. My search has currently led me to HEY. I have joined the HEY staff as a HEY intern working with Sara Razavi and Justin Slaughter. I will be assisting in various projects such as: HEY’s PEI Consumer Integration Project and the HEY News letter.
Sincerly,
Janella Parucha
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Posted in Trends To Watch | Tagged foster youth, HEY, non-profit training, non-profits
By Justin Slaughter on June 22, 2010
by Justin Slaughter, AmeriCorps VISTA Intern
In its reduction of the average time that a foster child stays in state custody, its increase in the number of timely and loving adoptions, and its funding for kin-GAP legal guardianships, the California government has been able to greatly reduce the number of children in our foster care system over the last ten years. Though this accomplishment warrants a ‘congrats’ to the foster care system, this phenomenon could not have been possible without the preventative services for troubled families (substance abuse treatments, mental health services, parental support, etc.) that helped the government avoid removing so many children from the custody of their family in the first place.
Given the proposed budget shortfalls from city hall to Sacramento this coming fiscal year, such substance abuse and mental health services, included in a long list of lost funds to health and social services, will inevitably take a substantial blow. For example, though the new city budget funds the baseline of children services at the required level, it does not comply with the Treatment on Demand initiative, which requires that the City not reduce funding or substance abuse treatment slots as long as there is unmet need (which there undoubtedly is).
Youth transitioning from foster care to adulthood who rely on these health services, and especially the youth who will have to enter foster care because her family could not get the necessary substance abuse treatments, will be hurt this year. To continue the progress we’ve made in the reduction of Californian children in foster care over the last decade, and in the face of never ending city and state deficits, we need to find new and creative ways to continue funding the services that have worked best for California youth in the past and have the most promise for the youth of the future. California has done so much for its current and former foster youthp; now’s not the time to start cutting corners.
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Posted in Trends To Watch | Tagged advocacy, bay area, budget, budget cuts, california, child welfare, foster care, funding, health, mental health, san francisco, support, transitional age youth, youth
By Sara Razavi on June 8, 2010
by Sara Razavi, Executive Director
Dear HEY supporters,
Over the past 11-years HEY has successfully contributed to, and witnessed the growth in awareness and support, for youth coming out of the foster care system. Throughout this time we have always been committed to accountability and sustainability. Which is why over the last three years we have diligently evaluated our work and proposed new ideas for eliminating duplicative services and why in December 2009 we applied for and received a competitive grant from San Francisco Foundation Nonprofit Transitions Fund to explore our options for consolidating our services with a few selected partners who shared similar work with us.
An outcome of this planning is that as of July 1, 2010 we will work closely with one of our partner agencies, TAY-SF to integrate our work into their agency. The partnership with TAY-SF promises to be a step in the right direction for both agencies to continue to provide advocacy and support for youth at a time when resources grow limited.
However, through this consolidation effort we have also had to eliminate two HEY positions, HEY’s Project Manager and HEY’s Program Coordinator. And so this will be the last week for our two esteemed staff, Dana Mandolesi and Leslie Brown. Furthermore, it is also time for us to bid farewell to our Emancipated Youth Advocacy Board (EYAB) members, Shavonte’ Keaton and Claudia Mendez, as they close out their year-long terms with HEY.
Dana joined HEY in October 2007, while Leslie joined the team in January 2009, and both have been a tremendous asset to our work. Please visit our newly updated staff page to find out more about their wonderful contributions to HEY. And both Shavonte’ and Claudia have also been amazing advocates this past year, providing numerous trainings and advocacy specifically around the issues affecting youth who age out of foster care with a focus on the discrepancy between housing options and mental health services. For more information about them, visit our EYAB page.
So lots of transitions, but We still have a great team of interns and volunteers and it is a little over due, but please welcome our newest team member, Justin Slaughter – HEY’s AmeriCorps VISTA.
Justin graduated from Earlham College last December with a degree in Sociology and Anthropology. He spent the last semester writing an institutional analysis and history of the U.S. health care system for his senior thesis. The last summer he was hired as an internal researcher to develop suggestions for Earlham College’s academic assessment policy. Justin joined HEY as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in April. He will be working to help develop, expand, and disseminate the Emancipation Research Project on emancipation practices in San Francisco.
Justin will be joining me as we transition our work to TAY-SF during the next six months.
Sincerely,
Sara Razavi
Executive Director
Honoring Emancipated Youth (HEY)
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Posted in Featured Content, Trends To Watch | Tagged advocacy, bay area, foster youth, HEY, non-profits, transitional age youth, youth
By Claudia Mendez on June 3, 2010
by Claudia Mendez, EYAB Member
HEY’s Foster Youth Leadership Award Ceremony 2010 just passed on May 21 and it was a success. Being a recipient of the 2008 Foster Youth Leadership Award and being part of the EYAB team who helped organize the event makes me proud and thrilled to see how the event has grown and become a success. 30 hard working youth were awarded at the ceremony. Thank you to the nominators who allowed us to meet such inspiring leaders. During the ceremony each nominator introduced their honoree and told everyone why they nominated them to receive the Foster Youth Leadership Award 2010. HEY’s goal is to honor the young leaders and at the same time show the honorees that there are others working as hard as they are and that they are not in the battle alone.
[For the list of this year's award Honorees, click on the title of the article]
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Posted in Foster Care Updates, Trends To Watch, Upcoming HEY Events
By Dana Mandolesi on April 27, 2010
HEY is pleased to announce that the Emancipation Research Project, 2007-2009 Compilation of Findings: A collection of best practices and recommendations for change from research about aging out of foster care in San Francisco, is released and ready for download at www.heysf.org. During the last two years, HEY conducted The Emancipation Research Project (ERP) to examine the transition process from foster care to independence in San Francisco County.
The Emancipation Research Project consisted of 27 in-depth interviews and more than 20 informal conversations and group discussions held in 2008-2009 with professionals and youth involved in the county’s dependency system. These professionals included current and former foster youth, advocates, policy makers, managers, line staff and others. This report is a collection of the twelve “HEY Trends” and “HEY Tools” that have resulted from the data analysis. HEY Trends are short informative articles; they are in-depth and meant for people working in child welfare at all levels. HEY Tools are quick reference sheets with simple definitions and other information meant for direct line staff and those working with youth. This research is useful for redesigning programs according to best practices, when writing grants and when advocating for better outcomes for youth.
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Posted in HEY in the News, Trends To Watch | Tagged child welfare data, child welfare services, dana mandolesi, data, emancipation research project, foster care research, HEY, research, san francisco
