Foster Youth Mentoring Act Introduction and Advocacy
May 24, 2023
“We are, in fact, facing the reality of relational poverty. The good news is that there are tools, resources, and evidence-based practices that we can put forward to help connect and reconnect [young people] to engage with [their] communities.” –Jermaine Myrie, CEO, MENTOR
Last week, in honor of Foster Care Month, the bipartisan Foster Youth Mentoring Act was re-introduced in the House of Representatives. Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-5), Don Bacon (NE-2), and Gwen Moore (WI-4), led the introduction as leaders of the Congressional Youth Mentoring Caucus and Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth.
To coordinate with the introduction, MENTOR partnered with the National Foster Youth Institute to host a briefing, “Fostering Positive Outcomes Through Mentoring,” on Capitol Hill. The meeting room was filled with staffers from dozens of congressional offices to hear from a standout lineup of speakers. See below for quotes from their portion of the briefing:
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-5): “Before coming to Congress, I spent decades working as a child advocate, seeing firsthand the difference a trusted, caring adult can make in the life of vulnerable young people. I’m proud to lead federal efforts to fund local evidence-based foster youth mentoring programs that can result in a meaningful improvement in young people’s lives and substantial cost savings for the child welfare system when implemented at scale, and I’m grateful for the partnership of Rep. Moore, Rep. Bacon, MENTOR, and NFYI.”
Jarrett Harper, criminal justice and foster youth advocate: “When I was in the foster system, I didn’t have a mentor. I had multiple abusers. I had a whole lot of foster homes…I needed a mentor.”
Christina Haines, Senior Director of Strategy and National Impact, Silver Lining Mentoring: “Mentors are memory keepers – it’s not at all uncommon for our mentees to keep all the cards, photos, and ticket stubs from their mentors.”
Mike Garringer, Senior Director of Research and Evaluation, MENTOR: “Our National Mentoring Resource Center did a big literature search and synthesis that found that mentoring for youth in foster care can support benefits around their mental health, their educational functioning attainment, things like substance misuse, better peer relationships, and better life satisfaction; these young people are happier and healthier because they have mentors in their lives.”
Sabrina Anderson, foster youth advocate and proud New Yorker: “You can’t have conversations about us, without us. It’s important to have someone walk with you not to just say ‘I’m sorry,’ but to say, ‘me, too.’”
Take Action Today!
Help us increase support in Congress for this bill by taking the simple action steps below:
- Take just two minutes to use MENTOR’s Action Center to contact your Member of Congress and urge them to co-sponsor the Foster Youth Mentoring Act.
- Check out MENTOR’s Partner and Grassroots Advocacy Toolkit for additional opportunities to advocate!