The FosterEd Initiative was recently awarded $100,000 by the Central Indiana Community Foundation, and $75,000 by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust in support of NCYL’s education work in Indiana. These grants will help ensure Indianapolis foster children receive the educational support and services they need to succeed in school.

FosterEd seeks to improve the educational outcomes of children and youth in foster care. This is accomplished through three complementary strategies:

1. Ensuring every foster child has an educational champion
2. Creating a network of foster youth education liaisons to provide resources, training and technical assistance to local stakeholders, educational champions in particular
3. Improving inter-agency collaboration, especially in the area of data-sharing.

In collaboration with Indiana’s Departments of Child Services and Education, and the State Office of CASA/GAL, FosterEd is launching a pilot project in Indianapolis to serve as a state model. FosterEd will use the Central Indiana Community Foundation grant to hire a local Project Manager to oversee the pilot’s implementation. The Project Manager will develope training materials and resources, serve as liaison between the local child welfare agency and local school districts, gather and analyze outcome data, and support the pilot’s expansion over time.

FosterEd will use the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust grant to hire a local Foster Youth Education Liaison. The Liaison will work directly with educational champions and foster youth, helping to ensure individual youth receive appropriate educational opportunities.

NCYL Attorney Jesse Hahnel is the Director of FosterEd Connect.