Foster Friends are invited to participate in our mentor-to-college pilot program. Through this program, twenty  high school seniors in foster care will be matched with twenty Foster Friends. The Foster Friends mentors will spend about 6-10 hours with the youth (probably three 2-3 hour meetings between October 2009- July 2010), helping them make their decision about where to attend college, helping them fill out financial aid applications, and going with them for orientation and signing up for classes.   The Coalition will provide assistance as needed. For example, a friend in the financial aid office at St. Louis Community College has already agreed to reserve a computer lab in January or February and help everyone complete the financial aid forms.  

 

Our Director of Project Teen Plus, Sheila Suderwalla, recently helped one of the kids in her program get ready for college, and realized how overwhelming the college application process is for youth in foster care. Because of her experience, she advocated for the Coalition to launch this pilot program so we could help more youth in foster care prepare for the future. We are thrilled to offer this wonderful program to the kids we serve and to our Foster Friends!