Cindy Garcia
Statewide Foster Youth Success Initiative Liaison
April 2, 2014

 Collect accurate data regarding foster youth on your campus
 CCCCO/FYSI- We can provide you with data, statistics and studies to cite, that will support your case
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California College Pathways also has a wealth of information regarding statistics to help you support your case
 Cal Pass-Plus- You can request a report regarding foster youth on your campus. Visit www.calpassplus.org to request a password to access the Launchboard (for community college employees only)

 First-decide what support you need
 Ask your campus administration to provide in-kind support, as well as direct financial support for the program
 This can include office space, equipment, supplies, or dedicated staff time
 Ask anyone you feel might be supportive of foster youth achieving a college education
 Examples: Student clubs, faith based organizations,
Kiwanis club, Soroptimist club,Rotary club,Chamber of
Commerce, campus based organizations

 Build a team to assist you in seeking funds and include foster youth as part of your team!
 Build a relationship with your campus Foundation or
Development office and engage in joint fundraising efforts
 Cultivating such a relationship can be enormously beneficial as the FYSI can be wearing many hats and fundraising can be time consuming

 Sierra College- “I speak to church groups and civic organizations to talk about our programs and this raises awareness for other to give to our scholarship funds or donate items to fill the annual backpack event. We apply for Grants via our Foundation Office. Each year we raise about $25,000 which funds our backpacks and small requests for needed items. This amount has been raised for the past
5 years. I have a couple of churches who pass the collection plate once a year, the Rotary raises funds for housing stipends,
Soroptimist outfit dorm rooms. I try to find what each organization is passionate about outside of education and ask them to fund this passion. I have found that it is about telling your story first and in time funding will come in dribs and drabs. I also have great champions within the Foundation office and from my administration
Before anyone should consider fund raising, they need champions first. It takes a village and a heart” ~Linda Williams.
 They have raised $375,000 in the last five years!

 Santa Barbara City College-has “found several private donors through our foundations grant writing. As of this date the grants have brought in over $62,000 in the last three years. We have used these funds primarily for book grants and food vouchers”~ Wendy McGregor

 Options for leveraging resources and information from other campuses and partnering with organizations in your community
 Apply for California College Pathways foster youth campus support programs and multi-campus network funding, advanced campus support programs, innovation funding. www.californiacollegepathways.org

 LA Trade Tech- “We have secured $250,000 in the last four years via grant solicitation and fundraising efforts.
Not only do we hold a major annual fundraising event, but our youth do small fundraising projects throughout the year” ~Dr. Dione Washington
 Woodland Community College- “First 5 Yolo and Yocha
Dehe Wintun Community Foundation have been major funders” ~Cherie Schroeder

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We have 19 Community Colleges that are partnering with CCP,
Stuart Foundation and other foundations
 They receive funding to build strong campus and community networks to support foster youth by equipping them with essential resources, enrolling them in college or training programs, helping them earn a degree or certificate and then embarking on a career
 This is a great way to leverage funds!

 Pierce College-“We utilize BFAP funds and other administrative allowance to fund certain services. We just received a College
Pathways Grant (funded by Anthony & Jeanne Pritzker) – a consortium grant between 4 colleges (Pierce College, LA Mission
College, LA Valley College and CSUN). We are calling our program “San Fernando Valley Guardian Scholars Network” and we will be providing a transfer pathway to CSUN’s Resilience
Scholars.
 The grant will assist us in enhancing our support services to our foster youths while they are enrolled at community college and have a pathway to a university (CSUN). We have outlined a number of activities and services that we will be planning and implementing for the upcoming year. This is our first year of the grant and it is considered a planning year” ~ Anafe Robinson

Network Campuses
Bay Area Network
CSU San Francisco State

College of Marin
Central Coast Network
Merced Network
North Bay Network
Northern Network
UC Santa Cruz
CSU Monterey Bay
CSU San Jose State
 Carbrillo College
 Hartnell College
UC Merced
 Merced College
 Madera Center College
CSU Sonoma State University
 Solano Community College
 Santa Rosa Junior College
CSU Chico State
 Butte College
 Shasta College

Network
Northridge Network
Campuses
CSU Northridge
 LA Pierce College
 LA Mission College

LA Valley College
Orange County Network
CSU Fullerton
 Orange Coast College
 Golden West College
Riverside Network
Southern California Network
West LA Network
UC Riverside
 Moreno Valley College

Riverside City College
University of Southern California

LA City College
 LA Trade Tech
 West LA College
Loyola Marymount University
UC Los Angeles
 Santa Monica College

Los Angeles Harbor College
Moorpark College
Norco College
Oxford Community College
Pasadena City College
San Francisco City College
Skyline College
Ventura Community College
West Hills College
California State University, Channel
Islands
California State University, San Marcos
Humboldt State University
University of California, Davis

 Some colleges have secured contracts with their counties
(out of the Independent Living Program fund) to do training and support
 Leverage program resources through your campus TRIO program, if applicable

 Advisory group to assist with fundraising
 The group could include representatives from campus departments, as well as members of your community who serve foster youth and youth themselves
 Peer networks, regional networks, community networks
 Awareness of the “needs” of foster youth in college by hosting community outreach events, writing a piece for your local newspaper

 Join peer networks, attend conferences, visit other campuses with more established programs
 Campus Support Program- consortia which exists in Northern and Southern California to network and find out who is funding and what are they funding
 Annual California College Pathways Blueprint Conference

 Design a clear long term plan for sustainability and donor engagement. This can include a plan for cultivating donors over time to increase their level of support through vehicles such as multi-year commitments and program endowments
 Ensure that you are aligning your funding with realistic goals and objectives

 Work with local businesses to secure in-kind donations such as clothing, transportation vouchers, book vouchers, food for events and gift cards for youth. Cultivating these relationships can lead to cash donations down the road as well
 Some campuses have found that inviting a foster youth to relay their personal experiences to a meeting with funders is highly beneficial
 Contact your local service clubs and local charities for monetary donations as well as in-kind donations


http://www.nprcenter.org/they have a database that allows you to enter key words and search for funders
 Burton Scholars Backpack to Success Programwww.johnburtonfoundation.orgprovides foster youth attending college with gift cards for local stores to purchase life necessities and school supplies.
 Burton also has a $500 text book program for youth
 www.grants.gov
 http://www.thecne.org/news/featured-grants the Center for
Nonprofit Excellence
 http://onebyone.4imprint.com/ they donate $500 worth of imprinted products each day

 Annually, the CCC Foundation offers up to $1000.00 in mini grants that are available through Youth
Empowerment Strategies for Success/ILP. Funds are expended this year. We will post this on the list serve when we have more funds available
Some slide titles/info borrowed from California Community College Pathways- Foster
Youth Campus Support Programs Guide

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Senator Carol Liu (D-25) introduced Senate Bill 1023 , which would provide foster youth at each of California's
112 community colleges with specialized academic and social support, as part of the existing Extended
Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS)
 The bill made it out of the committee on a vote of 9-0, with six members of the committee signing on as coauthors

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We received the $1,000 grant from the Foundation for CCC this year and in past years.
We have support from our Campus EOPS Dean and Financial Aid Director for staffing costs
Recently started receiving support for hourly EOPS counseling. Discussing hiring a full time, campus funded academic counselor based in the EOPS Office to see Up!/FFY students who may or may not be EOPS eligible.
Local woman’s club has provided support for our holiday dinner (cost of the meal).
Retired faculty/Elks member-Received $2,000 to purchase backpacks, school supplies, transportation & food gift cards for students. Distributing in June 2014.
College Foundation grants director talking to local charities about our (and our sister college/Grossmont) program for FFY. District Foundation received a $5,000 per college, 3 year grant in November from ‘Stoney’s Kids’ charity to help with direct help (books, supplies, interview clothes, etc.) for our students.
We went to the Foundation Board meeting in November to accept the grant and let the Foundation know what we were doing. We were in the planning stages for our
December Holiday party and the Foundation Board ‘passed the hat’ after the meeting and gave each college FYSI program $1,100 for food/gift cards for our students.
Recently an anonymous donor gave our program $1,000. We’re using it mostly for monthly and day bus passes.
The EOPS program also asks the campus for donations for our food pantry, usually cereals, canned goods, etc. Our FFY/Guardianship/abandoned and homeless students use this resource a lot.~Pam Fleming

 Still not enough. We still have homeless, hungry students without enough food, a bus pass, gas card, a working car, books, school supplies, an umbrella, coat, etc. It would be so nice to have a larger grant, or as through the new proposed EOPS legislation designated funds for books, school supplies, bus pass/gas cards and additional funds for more counselors, including maybe hiring a mental health counselor vs an academic counselor.
 Wish list here… I also would like to be able to have a dorm where 40 – 100 of our students could reside on campus. They would pay a low rent from their financial aid funds, but would have safe, secure, on-campus housing with RA’s and they would feel like ‘real’ college students.~Pam Fleming