First Star college prep program for foster youth included in California budget

Our kids in foster care college may appear out of reach for kids in foster care, but First Star is changing all that. First Star College Prep starts in middle school. It's a goal toward meaningful careers. And this update, the nonprofit is for the fourth year, included in the California state budget for academies on university campuses, providing a lifeline for kids in foster care who too often fall through the cracks. So joining me now is Amy Duarte, First Star alumna and now advisor. Yes. Very good. All right. And Venus Raniere. Raniere. Raniere. Yeah. First star board member and vice president of marketing at Singularity. All right. Start me out here, Amy. Right? Of course. So I started First Star, the second cohort at UCLA, the Bruin Gardens Scholars Academy in 2014. I was able to move with them all throughout high school. They stay with you. Well, they stayed with me longer than high school. as an advisor and sitting in their pre-college collective board to for what is called destination graduation and we want to do is graduate as many foster youth from high school from what's this program and not just UCLA but many programs all throughout California. And you were in foster care for how long? Yeah I was in foster care from I think about 14 years set from age 7 to 21 years old when I aged out from 18 to 21 to extended foster care and yeah now I'm a college grad from UC Davis political science and studying with minors in sociology and Chicano and Chicano studies and I'm working right now in a nonprofit called the Community College Foundation and basically what we do is we work with the transitioning aged youth in LA County and assist them in anything that they need help with whether that's employment, college, and getting the proper documents and just assisting them in adulthood. Alright let's just say success story from First Star right here i think she summed it up quite well i mean why do we need First Star i think First Star is honestly so important we have Amy sitting right here as living proof of that but beyond that one thing that lacks like youth in foster care experiencing foster care lacks is that continuity and that continued care and support foster care is more than just any other non-profit we like to say First Star is family and it really i think is true when you talk to our alumni and hear the stories we're really focused on education to workforce readiness it's something that honestly every student really needs help with right now and we do such a great job of making sure that these young people are when they leave our programs at the end of that prepared for a successful life i love that you stay with them for the whole high school journey and beyond and beyond definitely i think we have now i think 3500 something around that of people including our alumni that are active still and so we're out here continuously building community and growing that number with each new class that we have. So with the Wednesday's Child Program here at Fox 11, we do a lot of other foster care stories. You are one of them. But the big news for you all is that you get funding now from the state. They believe in it that much. They want to fund it for universities. Go ahead. Yes, we are really excited about that. We, for the fourth year in a row, like you said, the state has set aside some budget for us and we are ecstatic to announce today that with 1.2 million in grants, we are going to be able to open a new First Star Academy with our partner UC Riverside, which is really exciting and we're excited for that. It'll be 40 new students that get to come and experience the magic that is First Star. Okay, I want to read some facts real quick. So 97% of First Star scholars graduate from high school compared to 50% nationally, or 82% of those in First Star going to college compared to 10 percent nationally it makes a difference how a really big difference because foster youth only graduate a few percent from their bachelors so really having support and first star what they do is they stay with you no matter if you move placements if you move like location-wise they stay with you all throughout four years and they really help you advocate for yourself advocate for your education i really show you that college is a way to go you know i was going to ask you about that so you're you're a kid are you thinking college is going to be for you yeah so because i entered the system at a really early age i thought and this was before extended foster care even existed i thought i have to go to college because it's to survive it wasn't to get an education but it was simply to make sure that I wasn't going to be homeless and that I was going to have a meal on my plate but luckily with AB 12 being passed in 2010 and being implemented extended foster care and then these amazing programs like First Star, it really helps me to you know now be a graduate scholar I want to ask you about this so to get involved people who might want to get involved you're also a CASA volunteer I am yes to get involved with First Star I think there's a lot of different ways one we are going to be having our celebration on October 27th on Tuesday at the Mountain Gate Country Club in Los Angeles let's buy a ticket or donate buy a ticket or donate but I will say that you can also buy a ticket for an alumni to come which is a really awesome thing that you can do on the website please pass it on it's awesome we love getting them together and then outside of that get involved hear about your community like you said I'm a CASA which is a court-appointed special advocate for youth in foster care volunteer volunteer volunteer uh you get to basically help with the continuity aspect of of making sure that you're in a young person's life for as long as they're in care and it's super special and so rewarding honestly but the best part is just getting to know everybody and see what amazing work they do and how they're They're going to change the world. I love my foster care success stories. First Star is one of them. If you want to know more about them, firststar.org. Thanks so much for coming in. Thank you for having me. We'll be right back.