Preparing Foster Youth for Adulting Aging Out Institute

In this episode, Lynn Tonini interviews Maria Paparella, Founder and Executive Director of Chair-ity in Akron, Ohio. Maria explained the origins and growth of her organization, which provides furniture to youth aging out of foster care and is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year. We talk about the importance of enabling youth to have choices in creating their environment, how critical community is to supporting these youth, and we wrap up discussing opportunities that the foster system can take to improve the support for youth as they transition to adulthood.

In this episode, Lynn Tonini interviews Mark Mecum, CEO of Ohio Children's Alliance in Columbus, Ohio. Mark explains the work that his organization does for youth aging out of foster care through the Ohio Bridges Program, the state's extended foster care program. We talk about the importance of prevention so that youth don't have to go into foster care in the first place, and we wrap up discussing opportunities to improve outcomes for aged-out youth.

In this episode, Lynn Tonini interviews Lee Marshall, CEO and Founder of Kids to Love in Madison, Alabama. Lee describes the path she took to leading Kids to Love and the programs and services that Kids to Love offers youth in foster care, as well as those aging out. She explained KTech, which is a 16-week program that teaches skills to help aged-out youth become highly employable. Finally, Lee shares her vision of helping foster youth get on their career path while still in foster care.

In this episode, Lynn Tonini interviews Bruce Wingate, President of Foster Care Furniture in Boise, Idaho. Bruce describes how his organization provides training in woodworking and carpentry for youth who have aged out of foster care. Their nonprofit offers 13 weeks of training in which the youth build products to specifications for a paying client. Then, they assists the youth in finding employment in the trades. They are also planning a second phase, which will include enabling youth to own their own tiny homes.

In this episode, Lynn Tonini facilitates a conversation between two individuals connected with organizations that help youth aging out of foster care find and retain employment: Hope Broomham with Jim Riley Outreach (Plano, TX) and Andraya Slyter with The RightWay Foundation (Los Angeles, CA). During this conversation, we talked about different strategies to help foster youth find and keep employment to help them toward self-sufficiency. We also discussed generational differences that may be influencing employment expectations.

In this episode, Lynn Tonini interviews Brian Meza, Executive Director of Petra Cares, a charitable arm of Petra Auto Products based in Cypress, Texas. Brian explained the history of Petra Cares, which provides an automotive foundations course for youth aging out of foster care and assists them with acquiring a job in the automotive industry after successfully completing that course. Through partnerships with Lone Star College and other organizations, this nonprofit ensures wrap-around supports for the youth who sign up for their 7-week program. They are a young organization, but they have caught the eye of other cities and are already in talks about expanding.