Yakima Valley foster children lent a helping hand to college

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Like a lot of freshmen, Taylor Judd is living in the dorms and getting used to college. It's her first quarter, and she's still figuring things out.

"I'm just trying to get my prerequisites done so I can decide what I want to do," the 19-year-old says, sitting recently in the Hopf Student Union Building at Yakima Valley Community College.

It can be overwhelming.

"I didn't even know how to buy my books," Judd admits.

But, with support from the Foster Care to College program, she feels like she has a fighting chance to finish her degree.

"If the program wasn't here, it would be awful," she says. "Honestly ... I don't think I would've made it to college."

The program, started in 2006, is designed to help students in foster care pursue and prepare for post-secondary education.

Until this year, it was known as the Foster Care to College Mentoring Program and paired students with mentors who received training to guide them through the process and paperwork of applying for college, scholarships, financial aid and housing.

Until this year, there had been five such programs statewide, serving 522 students.

But the Yakima program is the only one that remains, according to Laura Riel, coordinator of the local Foster Care to College program at Catholic Family & Child Service.

"We're trying bare bones to continue it," says Riel, 30. "It's important because these kids are our next generation. We're empowering them to take care of their own lives."

About 25,000 young people across the country "age out" of foster care each year. Without permanent homes or support from family members, they're at a higher risk for unemployment, long-term reliance on public assistance, incarceration and homelessness.

In addition to helping with the transition to college, the program also aims to help them go out on their own -- into an apartment or dorm -- while they're in college.

"It doesn't feel like I'm a grown-up. I'm a kid still. I'm in college. But I'm doing all these adult things," says 18-year-old Victoria Gherman, a 2009 Eisenhower High School graduate.

After about three years in foster care, she recently moved into her own apartment with her boyfriend and their 18-month-old daughter.

"On a scale of one to 10, I'm an 11 on grateful" for Foster Care to College, says Gherman. "I wouldn't have gone to college without it. I would have put it off because I didn't know what to do."

The statewide pilot program had primarily been supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. During its three-year run, 427 students received one-on-one mentoring throughout the state. At its end last summer, the program was serving 245 students.

"We were all really sad to hear that the program wasn't going to be funded," says Alexia Everett, senior officer for foster care education and policy at the College Success Foundation, which served as the fiscal agent for the mentoring program. "Seeing providers actually care as much to try and continue the work, I think, speaks greatly of the program. And the fact that people are still holding onto it is significant."

The Gates Foundation had agreed to support the mentoring program's initial three years. After that, organizers were hoping the state would take over funding the program.

When it didn't, Riel says, administrators at Catholic Family & Child Service decided to continue to provide Foster Care to College -- without the mentoring component -- because of the program's local success in the last three years.

Before funding ended, it took about $92,000 to run the mentoring program in Kittitas, Klickitat, Yakima, Benton, Franklin and Walla Walla counties, according to Riel.

Now, the organization is financing the program in a piecemeal manner through a combination of private and public funds. But, Riel says, there aren't enough resources to continue the mentoring piece, which takes additional staff time and training, money and coordination.

In all, Everett says, it took approximately $2.5 million to operate the statewide Foster Care to College Mentoring Partnership, including the mentoring program, training, publications and summits. The money came from a half-dozen public and private donors.

Foster Care to College serves two dozen seniors from high schools throughout the Yakima Valley -- from Ellensburg to Selah and Sunnyside -- as well as 27 students who are enrolled at colleges around the state.

Sixteen of them -- 13 women and three men -- attend YVCC. Among them are Krystal Santillan and Sonya Karty, both 18-year-old 2009 Toppenish High School graduates who are now in their first quarter.

Through the program, Karty and Santillan visited college campuses, learned about grants and scholarships, and got help with registration.

"I didn't think I was going to graduate," Karty says. "I didn't understand how to get into college. I didn't have a clue."

"They let us experience what college is," Santillan added. "They showed us around. They gave us choices."

Now, both students are hoping to complete their associate degrees, then transfer to a four-year university.

"They believe in us," Santillan says. "They believe we can do something with our lives. It helps me to keep moving on."

The support is important because youths in foster care often don't have adults in their lives telling them they can go to college, says Riel, who's been running the local Foster Care to College program since its inception.

The program is open to those between the ages of 14 and 21 in Kittitas, Klickitat, Yakima, Benton, Franklin and Walla Walla counties who are or were in foster care and interested in pursuing higher education.

In addition to YVCC, students in the program are enrolled at the University of Washington, Washington State University, Central Washington University, Seattle University, Eastern Washington University, Heritage University, Northwest University and Columbia Basin College.

While students could choose to go out of state for college, most opt to stay in Washington. Some scholarships for students in foster care are specific to this state; if they went to school out of state, they would not be eligible for that funding.

And once they move out of state, Riel says, they would no longer be enrolled in the local Foster Care to College program.

In Washington state, approximately 9,000 youths are in foster care. More than 500,000 are in foster care nationwide.

If current trends continue, only half of them will graduate from high school, and fewer than 3 percent will earn a bachelor's degree.

"They need help now so they can be better off in the long-run," says Riel, who visits YVCC and CWU once a month to meet with students in the Foster Care to College program. She also visits high schools, meeting with students and counselors.

And part-time peer mentor Jaime Ramsey holds regular drop-in sessions at YVCC, where she's completing her last quarter.

"I'm doing what they will be doing soon, and they see that," says 20-year-old Ramsey, a 2007 Goldendale High School graduate who's made the transition from foster care to college.

She's a participant in the program as well as an employee. Ramsey works as the part-time peer mentor, helping students like herself navigate the path to higher education.

"We just provide a lot of support that they aren't getting other places," she says. "I really hope that it continues and expands and reaches more students."

* For more information about Foster Care to College, call Laura Riel at 509-965-7100.

* For more information about resources for students in foster care, visitwww.independence.wa.gov.

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