Getting to the top of the mountain is great, but smaller victories end up being the most powerful moments. Especially when they involve overcoming the challenges faced by youth aging out of foster care.
Statistics show their stories look pretty bleak:
- 2 in 3 in Arizona won’t graduate high school or get a GED
- 40% have been homeless
- 60% have been convicted of a crime
- Less than 3% will earn a college degree*
Those numbers appear are a high mountain to climb. The Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation’s Keys to Success program focuses on the “little wins” to change the stories for youth ages 16 to 24.
Like Rachel. She just began participating in Keys to Success last December. Like so many others in foster care, Rachel had a hard childhood. She moved from Prescott to Kingman and back to Prescott. Things were so bad that she found herself couch surfing. She was 16 when she entered foster care.
Despite how hard her life may have been, Rachel is motivated to change her story and create a better future for herself. When our career development specialist (CDS) contacted her about joining Keys to Success, Rachel found a way to cancel every time they tried to connect. Eventually the CDS learned that Rachel was overwhelmed by the number of people in her corner. She thought one more person on her team would be too much to manage. With a little persistence, the CDS convince Rachel to meet with her to see if she’d like the program.
Turns out, she did…victory!
Not quite 18 years old, Rachel is working on graduating early. She’s taking both her junior and senior year courses in one year. She plans to attend Yavapai College in the fall and eventually will transfer to a four-year university. She dreams of a career in which she can help others.
Her CDS says, “Spending time with Rachel, I see the excitement in her eyes when she says she had no idea her life could turn out this way.”
The small victory of getting Rachel into the group is a huge success. Watching her change her own story through more smaller victories? That’s how we move mountains.
Join us in creating even more small victories when you make a foster care tax credit donation to AFFCF. Rather than letting the state decide what to do with your tax dollars, you can change the story for kids aging out of care and receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit on your Arizona state taxes. It’s not too late to give and apply it toward your 2019 state taxes. Donate here.
*National Foster Youth Initiative