Atlanta nonprofit Move-in Day Mafia started in 2020 when founder Teej Mercer met a young college grad from an HBCU that had aged out of foster care. She learned that these students often have little support while moving to a college campus. Now, the nonprofit supports incoming HBCU students who have aged out of the foster care system with a “mob” of volunteers that descend on college campuses and surprise students with personalized dorm rooms to kick off their college journey. The mob also supports the students until they graduate with monthly care packages containing food and school supplies. “They think we’re too good to be true, and they typically don’t believe us till they see us on move-in day,” explained Mercer.



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In 2022, the Florida Legislature appropriated over $68 million to support fatherhood initiatives. One of the recipient organizations is Safe Children Coalition, a child welfare nonprofit, that is now using a grant of approximately $150,000 to address the comprehensive needs of child welfare-involved fathers. “Numerous studies affirm that there are tremendous benefits to engaging fathers in the child welfare process, including decreased incidence of neglect or abuse, improved social and emotional well-being, reduced behavioral and psychological problems, and better performance in school," said SCC President and CEO Brena Slater. “Our vision is to support and equip fathers with the necessary resources to get and remain engaged in their children’s lives.” To date, SCC has served more than 60 fathers.

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Nearly ten years ago, twins Kaylin and Jessica Mai started a nonprofit to empower youth in foster care in Santa Clarita, CA, called Tidings for Teens. As the twins graduated from high school this year and plan to attend Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, they have named two new youth ambassadors, Chloe Shin and Alyssa Brandolino, to lead the organization. Kaylin and Jessica will continue to serve as advisors. “Our ambassador program is called youth for youth, so it embodies youth serving youth, youth helping youth, as a complete youth-ran organization,” said founder Jessica Mai.

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In Ohio, a statewide network named Ohio Reach advocates for higher education opportunities for students with foster care experience. The Ohio Reach Postsecondary Designation is given to institutions that are recognized for their work to assist students and allows institutions to receive additional support from the organization to further improve its programs. This year, two new schools joined the growing list of designations, bringing the total number of institutions that have earned the honor to 40 since the program’s inception in 2023. Craig Bennett, Senior Director of Student Success at Miami University says the Ohio Reach name is trusted by students. “Students from foster recognize the Ohio Reach symbol and automatically recognize that there's somebody on campus who understands and has worked with other foster care students,” Bennett said. “It allows students to make a decision on where they want to attend.”



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