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A Future Built Together

Fostering Promise CEO André Chapman with three of our Strategic Advisors at a recent planning retreat: Aleta Smith, Jo Williams, and Gerbenn Seraphin.

A Message from André

Dear Friends,

At Fostering Promise, we believe homelessness among young people aging out of foster care is not inevitable. It is a solvable crisis—and this issue highlights the vision, solutions, and momentum bringing us closer to ending it.

Our planned 2027 Not Even One™ pilot will bring together the housing, support, and tools young people need to transition successfully to adulthood.

Our ambitious but achievable goal: Not Even One participant will exit foster care into homelessness.

HUD’s recent expansion of FYI vouchers validates what we have long championed: young people leaving foster care need better access to housing assistance. But federal policy only creates opportunity. Strong local implementation turns it into impact—and that is where Fostering Promise’s collaborative model can make a critical difference.

As Amon’s inspiring story below reminds us, stable housing provides far more than shelter. It gives young people the foundation to transform their dreams into achievable goals.

Thank you for believing in this work and in the extraordinary promise of every young person. Together, we can build a future where not even one leaves foster care without a safe place to call home.

Warmly,

André V. Chapman

President & CEO, Fostering Promise

Photos of young adults who have experienced foster care. Join the movement to ensure they all have a safe place to call home.

Not Even One™

A bold goal. A real-world plan to achieve it.

Nearly one in three young people who age out of foster care will experience homelessness.

We believe not even one should.

In Summer 2027, Fostering Promise plans to launch a groundbreaking pilot in the San Francisco Bay Area designed to prove that this crisis can be solved.

Approximately 50 young people transitioning from foster care to adulthood will have access to the essential building blocks for housing stability: a housing subsidy or FYI voucher, housing options, a caring mentor, and My Housing Platform™—an AI-enabled online companion that will help each young person create a housing plan, connect to resources, and navigate the path to adulthood.

Our goal is simple and ambitious: Not Even One participant will exit foster care into homelessness.

And the vision extends far beyond these 50 young people. We believe this pilot can create a replicable model for counties throughout California—and eventually communities across the country.

Not Even One™ is both the aim of this pilot and our rallying cry for what is possible.

If we can break down silos and make prevention – not crisis response – our priority, while embracing the simple belief that we would never allow our own children to leave home at 18 or 21 without housing, we will build a future where not even one young person ages out of foster care without a safe place to call home.

Start using #NotEvenOne whenever you share this issue—and help us build the movement.

A Federal Program to House Former Foster Youth is Greatly Expanded: Now Comes the Critical Part

Scott Turner, U.S. Secretary of HUD, listens to young adults with lived experience in foster care at a round table on housing youth.

If Not Even One young person is going to exit foster care into homelessness, access to housing must be part of the solution.

That’s why a recent announcement from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is such welcome news. HUD is expanding its Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) initiative and removing a key barrier by eliminating the cap on the number of FYI vouchers housing authorities can obtain.

For Fostering Promise, this national focus validates something we have long championed: young people transitioning from foster care need better access to housing vouchers.

But making vouchers available is only the first step.

Without strong local implementation, these federal resources may never reach the young people they intend to serve. Housing Authorities administer the vouchers. Child Welfare agencies know the young people who need them.

Too often, however, those systems don't work together seamlessly.



That is where Fostering Promise comes in.

Our model brings these partners together to identify eligible young people early, connect them to available vouchers and housing, and help ensure those resources translate into real housing stability.

This coordinated approach will be a critical component of our 2027 Bay Area pilot, where approximately 50 young people will have access to the housing and support they need to transition successfully to adulthood.



Federal policy creates opportunity. Local implementation turns opportunity into impact.

And both are essential if we are going to achieve our goal: Not Even One young person exiting foster care into homelessness.

Spotlight on Amon Reyes: When Dreams Become Goals

At just 20 years old, Amon Reyes has already overcome more instability than many people experience in a lifetime.

After losing his mother when he was just six years old, Amon spent years moving through foster homes and communities. During his junior year of high school alone, he attended five different schools in five counties.

The constant moves made it difficult to build friendships or imagine a future in any one place. For a brief time, he even slept on a mattress on the floor of a warehouse—an experience that left him feeling unsafe and ashamed to go to school.

Today, stable housing through Unity Care’s Transitional Housing Program has given Amon something he rarely had growing up: a place he can call home. With the security of knowing where he will sleep each night—and caring caseworkers only a phone call or text away—he has been able to focus on his finances, career and future.

Amon returned to San José to pursue a promising job opportunity and is now a licensed California insurance broker. He has built savings, paid down his credit cards, purchased a car and developed the time-management and communication skills needed to succeed at work. He is also pursuing his longtime passion for boxing and exploring ideas for businesses he may one day launch.

Amon’s story is a powerful reminder that housing provides far more than shelter. It creates safety, peace of mind and the foundation young people need to build careers, pursue their passions and determine their own futures.

As Amon says, “There’s no if, and or but. If I want something badly enough, I’ll make it happen.”

Invest in their promise. Put your hands in the soil with us and support the Promise Campaign.

We are raising $3M to launch the pilot that will prove we can end the homelessness crisis for youth exiting foster care.

Thanks to the generosity of our early supporters, more than $1.1 million has already been committed, and momentum continues to grow.

Your support is an investment in the promise of young people and in this promising solution. Join us! Contact Katherine Levine-Koller if you would like to learn more about the campaign or come to an upcoming event.

Fostering Promise | 408-430-7571 | 

andre@fosteringpromise.org| www.fosteringpromise.org