June 2009

Bright Idea: Prepping Youth to Speak in Public and to the Media

Since 2004, the FosterClub All-Stars have proved an important point: When former foster youth speak about the child welfare system, people listen.

The All-Stars are a group of 18- to 24-year-olds who serve a year-long internship for FosterClub, the national network for youth in foster care. All-Stars receive intense training and opportunities to speak to the public, the media and legislators.

Right on the Money: Ten Ways to Find Foundation Funding

Last month, we addressed how to write a better grant proposal. But before youth-serving organizations apply for funding, they have to pinpoint likely donors. How to do that with no fund raising staff and barely enough time to get your to-do list done each day?

We turned to Helen Brown, president of The Helen Brown Group, a Boston-area consulting company specializing in fundraising research, and to NCFY’s own youth policy researchers. They had the following tips for readers setting out to identify promising foundations:

Primary Sources: Ensuring That Learning Goes On When School’s Out

Research shows that providing expanded learning opportunities, or ELOs, for older youth in the out-of-school hours may make adolescents more likely to go to school, finish their homework, do well on standardized test scores, and have good study habits and high motivation. Such opportunities may also make youth less likely to drop out of school. A trio of articles demonstrates that these benefits are most often achieved when the programs are of high quality and collaborate with the local community and schools.

National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth | 5515 Security Lane, Suite 800 | North Bethesda, MD 20852 | (301) 608-8098 | ncfy@acf.hhs.gov