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Dear Friends,

We are so grateful to 1440 Foundation for granting us space to host our 2026 team retreat at their gorgeous Multiversity campus among the redwoods in Scotts Valley. We grounded our work in what we call Wellergy: the intentional fusion of wellness and strategy. The evening of our arrival, we enjoyed communal sound therapy, listened to live fireside music, and chatted under the stars—all of which allowed us to come to our strategy session the following day with deepened connections and renewed vigor!  

Led by the extraordinary Aila Malik, co-founder and principal of Venture Leadership Collective, we focused our lens on: What must be true for us to launch our pilot by July 1, 2027? With guidance from our leaders with lived experience, we identified clear milestones and a timeline that will lead us to a successful launch. This transformational pilot will serve as our proof-of-concept to ensure that every young person aging out of foster care has a safe place to call home, the support of a caring mentor, and the hope for a promising future. 

We are excited to share more about our work as it advances in the months ahead. In the meantime, please check out our My Housing Platform™ mobile solution featured below.

Thank you as always for contributing your talents and your treasures to support our work!

André Chapman

President & CEO

P.S. Please forward this email to a friend!

Exciting Updates About Our Tech-for-Good Solution:

My Housing Platform™

Central to our work is My Housing Platform™, envisioned by lived-experience experts to transform transition planning for youth aging out of foster care. Developed with technology advisory firm Fideseo, this mobile and desktop platform uses real-time, data-driven algorithms to help youth and their advocates navigate housing and support systems.

My Housing Platform™ brings critical resources together in one place, connecting youth to housing opportunities, services, peers, and mentors. A proprietary Housing Readiness Score helps youth and advocates understand the documents and steps needed to secure housing before applying.

We are building this powerful solution through user research, prototype development, and validation from youth who have experienced both foster care and housing insecurity. They are our strategic advisors and frontline advocates. A Young Adult Advisory Council will help guide the platform and recruit participants for a pilot of the tool planned for January 2027.

We can’t wait to unveil this exciting mobile solution! Stay tuned.

Spotlight On: Celeste Walley 
Fostering Promise Strategic Advisor

You may have seen Fostering Promise Strategic Advisor Celeste Walley in action at our Youth Housing Summit last spring, where she participated on the Policy, Politics & Foster Youth panel. Celeste is one of our extraordinary Strategic Advisors, each of whom lends their expertise and lived experience perspective to every decision. Celeste’s career focus is policy advocacy, specifically for transition age youth (TAY).

In addition to her role at Fostering Promise, Celeste is the Permanency Engagement Advisor at California Alliance of Child and Family Services’ Catalyst Center. In her role at the Alliance, Celeste worked last year to support AB 1314, which has now been signed into law by the Governor, to help address unfair differences that foster youth have experienced when trying to access transitional housing programs depending on the county they are from. The goal of the bill was to make access more consistent, so young people don’t lose housing opportunities simply because of where their case originated.

This year, Celeste is working on AB 2764— another effort focused on standardization—which seeks to ensure that requirements for transitional housing programs connected to extended foster care are not stricter than the requirements for extended foster care itself. This would help prevent young people from being denied access to housing or removed from programs because of unnecessary or inconsistent rules.

For thoughts from some of our other Strategic Advisors, please see their quotes in our recent Impact Report!

Fostering Promise | 408-430-7571 | andre@fosteringpromise.org| www.fosteringpromise.org