Fostering Achievement Network provides members with a support system and resources to obtain financial assistance, housing and scholarships at Ohio State and in the Columbus area. Credit: Courtesy of Fostering Achievement Network
When former foster youth Cloe Cooper, a third-year in social work, started her college education at Columbus State Community College, her primary concern was not her GPA, getting internships or acing exams. Instead, she found herself worrying about food, financial insecurity and homelessness.
After gaining support from the Columbus State Scholar Network, a program offering resources and a community to current and former foster youth, Cooper transferred to Ohio State and decided to start a similar program.
The Fostering Achievement Network, established in August 2020, provides members with a support system and resources to obtain financial assistance, housing and scholarships at Ohio State and in the Columbus area. It also holds meetings and events to cultivate a sense of community for its former foster youth members.
“When you’re talking about someone who is turning 18 in the home of their parents, they’re going to have emotional support, financial support and likely some guidance from them about how to navigate independent living and kind of what being an adult looks like,” Cooper said. “And when you’re dealing with youth that are aging out of the foster care system, I would say nine out of 10 times they are not prepared for adulthood.”
The Columbus State Scholar Network and the Fostering Achievement Network currently work together with other foster care resources in the community, such as Ohio Reach, an organization helping former foster youth access higher education, and Bridges, a financial resource for recently aged-out foster youth in Ohio, Cooper said.
There are many challenges and barriers that former foster youth have to overcome when becoming independent and pursuing higher education that many other students may not even think about, Cooper said.
“We’re not taught financial literacy; nobody taught us how to understand a lease or how to turn on utilities. Things as simple as turning on the internet are just very foreign concepts,” Cooper said. “That’s the major difference there, and that’s why it’s so important for support networks like Fostering Achievement Network to be able to kind of be that support that these young people didn’t have.”
Cooper said former foster youth will typically not know what resources are available to them. The Fostering Achievement Network houses many resources under one organization, making them more accessible, she said.
“I really think that it’s important to educate not only the youth themselves about independent living and the resources that are available to them, but also mandating that the people that are involved in their lives, like their workers and their foster parents and even their mentors, are aware of what’s available to them,” Cooper said.
Katrina De Los Santos, director of the Columbus State Scholar Network, said the organization was formed at Columbus State in 2016 and has since helped many former foster youths by providing emergency resources such as bus passes and gas cards, monthly support sessions and a semester cost stipend depending on total participation in the program during the semester.
Tyisha Gully, a fourth-year in social work, was also a member of the Columbus State Scholar Network and is now a member of the Fostering Achievement Network at Ohio State. Gully said she was reluctant to ask for help in college due to trust issues she developed during her years in foster care. Ultimately, she said, the Columbus State Scholar Network helped her find the financial aid she needed to stay in school.
Gully said she hopes the Fostering Achievement Network will be a helpful resource to future students who are in a situation like hers.
“I’m excited to see more people get involved, more people helping each other, and just networking with one another to help lift each other up and know that even though we came from a difficult life, that is our past, that doesn’t have to determine our future,” Gully said.
Cooper said she hopes Ohio State will continue to create more resources and programs supporting former foster youth.
“I think that OSU really prides themselves on offering different services for different underrepresented student groups, and former foster youth is really not something that’s highlighted at OSU, and that’s really kind of uncommon for a Big Ten university to not have,” Cooper said. “I just really think that it would be beneficial to the institution and to the students that come out of the child welfare system that are taking classes at OSU.”
Any student previously or currently in the foster care system can apply to the program on the Fostering Achievement Network’s website.
