[Music]
[Applause]
tonight I’m going to talk to you about
how we must lead with our head and our
heart if we want former foster youth to
be successful I have six year old twin
daughters and they have a pretty good
idea of what it is that I do for work
and one day they said daddy have you
ever helped Annie Annie was in foster
care right I pause thought about who
they were talking about it said no I’ve
never helped any but I have lot help
lots of other kids oh yeah they said
what were their names I was impressed
that my kids could make the connection
between any in the young people we serve
at first place for youth the
organization that I lead as I reflected
a little longer I realized that what
most of the world thinks of foster youth
is what happens to little Orphan Annie
the original idea was that a family
would enough love in his heart and
enough room in his house would bring in
a child treat that child that’s their
own and stick with them through thick or
thin fifty percent of kids who are put
into foster care will be placed with a
permanent family and most of those kids
will do okay the kids I work with they
represent the other 50% those who do not
find a permanent place to call home when
Noelle Anaya a current first place
participant was one year old he and his
five brothers and sisters were put into
foster care
today he is 21 in California that is
when young people age out this process
becomes official at a final court
hearing in Noel got rare permit
– to record his proceedings walking into
court for my very last time as a foster
youth I feel like I’m getting a divorce
from a system that I’ve been in a
relationship with almost my entire life
it’s bittersweet because I’m losing
guaranteed money for food and housing as
well as access to my social workers and
lawyer but on the other hand I’m
relieved to finally get away from the
system that ultimately failed me on its
biggest promise that one day it would
find me a family who would love me no
muss one record this is line 6 the
matter Knoll and I am yeah well Noel and
I are you guys been saying the wrong for
21 years
nobody pronounces it differently so
thank you though I’m glad to know it’s
Noel little things like when my judge
Shana Schwartz mispronounces my name
serve as a constant reminder that hey
I’m just a number I often come away
feeling powerless and anonymous in the
foster care system it is important to
note that foster care is largely a
manifestation of poverty
85% of kids who are placed in foster
care a place there because of something
called general neglect not abuse but
neglect which is another way of saying
there isn’t enough food there aren’t
enough clothes kids are being left home
alone because mom and dad are working we
must remember it is not that foster
youth don’t have families it is that
their families don’t have the means to
take care of them and whether or not you
believe that is because of decision
making or circumstance one thing I think
we all can agree on is that children
don’t choose their parents the typical
young person that comes into first place
for youth was put into foster care at
the age of 11 he or she has been moved
in and out of six different foster care
placements or group homes and been
forced to change schools at least three
times
this level of chaos comes at a price in
the kid’s life in 2016 one third of the
young people coming through our doors
did not have a high school diploma or a
GED a third of them had kids of their
own
over half had experienced homelessness
or been arrested two-thirds were
unemployed now I know you’re looking at
me and you’re saying yeah but this guy’s
from Oakland those are Oakland problems
but the national data tells a pretty
similar story data aside the biggest
thing that these young people have in
common in the most influential factor in
their lives is that they have lost their
family as a core asset I ask you to
think for just a moment how your life
might have turned out differently if we
removed your family from the picture
with the expectations that you had for
yourself have gotten bigger or smaller
would you be here today sitting in this
auditorium listening to me talk or would
you be somewhere else entirely different
I didn’t grow up in foster care but my
life does bear some similarities to the
young people we serve I grew up in
Indianola Mississippi the Mississippi
Delta for those of you who don’t know
Mississippi is one of the poorest states
in the country the Delta is one of the
poorest parts of Mississippi and where
my family and I are from where we’re
from the poorest County in the Delta my
mother and father were 15 and 17 when
they had me and more like my big brother
and sister than my parents in my early
20s a little bit older than the young
people we serve I moved out west my
family and I had a falling-out
and suddenly I was on my own I was
enrolled in Community College but the
money had sprouts together from doing
temporary work cleaning gutters and
working at the parks department was not
enough to pay the rent for the first
year and a half that I was in school I
was homeless I slept in my car and crash
with friends when I could during this
time in my life I don’t remember feeling
afraid what I do remember was thinking
even though I was homeless I was
probably in much better shape than I had
been in the last five or six years
mainly because I could see where my
future was going I was finally working
on something that was meaningful to me a
college degree back in my hometown the
best job that I could get degree or no
degree was making $13,000 a year
slinging 50-pound bags of potatoes at
the Super Value grocery factory it was
hard work it was respectable work but it
wasn’t the life that I wanted if we’re
going to empower former foster youth to
beat the odds
we must not continue to just give them
enough to get by that is not how we
break the cycle of poverty for these
kids that is not how we motivate them to
achieve their full potential so what do
we do well first you have to know what
you’re doing worked when I started at
first place for youth as CEO in 2005 I
asked a team how do you know that you’re
being successful with the young people
that you’re working with the answer I
got was well because when kids come back
they give us hugs
don’t get me wrong I like hugs but I
wasn’t about to paint our young people’s
success on hugs alone it wasn’t just
that I needed to get people to collect
data
I needed to get them to care about it we
created mantras like if you’re not
documenting it you’re not doing it it
was a cultural shift at the deepest
level I had people come to me and say I
didn’t go to school to collect data I
went to school to work with kids doing
this very tough transformation we’re
experienced almost 70% staff turnover
we went from using hardly any data in
our work to becoming one of the most
data-driven organizations in the country
if you were to ever visit first place my
office is on the first floor but the
decisions are made
upstairs in the data room because of
this shift we understand that if a young
person goes to ten group sessions that
that’s a turning point if we keep them
in program for 13 months we’re going to
get a key outcome for them a place to
live a job a degree if we want that
outcome to stick we need to keep them in
program for at least 18 months but I’m
also here to tell you that data alone
will not change lives over the last 10
years the social sector has been hype or
focused on trying to find a perfect
algorithm for success but just like
having that recipe doesn’t mean that the
dish you’re cooking is going to turn out
right following a program model doesn’t
guarantee success either I know I’ve
been trying to make my grandmother’s
famous sweet potato pie for the last 20
years Trust is not transactional and our
young people have been giving plenty of
reasons not to trust anyone building
authentic relationships with them takes
time the second thing that we’ve learned
is that sometimes before you can hold
someone accountable you must first hold
them we do not give up on kids who don’t
meet our outcomes or our expectations we
stick with them when a young person on
our team has been working really hard
for the last nine months and finally
lands her first job only to come into
your office three weeks later until you
she quit being in a real relationship
means that you’re allowed to get
frustrated with them but just like
family you’re not allowed to give up you
take a step back you redefine them what
goes you define the work in the
sacrifice required to hit them because
for every day that a young person takes
a step back there’s another day when you
find out a young man like Richard has
been catching the bus two and a half
hours early to make sure that he gets to
his college courses on time we must meet
kids where they’re at but have the
expectation that they will not remain
there in the heart in the tenacity to
see them through the third thing we have
learned is that we must feel the cracks
in the system direct services alone are
not the answer we must advocate for
widespread policy changes so that our
young people can achieve success at
scale policies even the ones created
with the best of intentions can
sometimes serve as trap doors that
people fall through versus bridges
across trouble time when I was homeless
standing in line to get food stamps was
one of the hardest most embarrassing
things that I’ve ever had to do
at that time they told me in order to
receive that benefit that I needed to
quit college but I knew that the bet
that education was the best shot I had
at never being in that line again I was
outraged and I wouldn’t be standing here
today if I had a quit school
when I worked in San Francisco with
homeless youth kids straight out of the
foster care system would show up at the
shelter with all of their worldly
possessions packed away in plastic bags
there was a bunch of press about it so
new funding came down to buy them sturdy
your luggage are you kidding me they
didn’t need better luggage they needed a
better plan it is incumbent upon those
doing this work in those funding this
work that we give kids what it is that
they really need to succeed we have to
help them see around corners and avoid
those trapped doors today the system
playing six months to a year in advance
of a young person’s eventual exit from
foster care the number of young people
transitioning from foster care directly
into homelessness has decreased by more
than 20% but what has not changed is the
number of former foster youth living
above the poverty level in the number of
them earning a living wage college
graduation rates are the same as they
were ten to fifteen years ago we have a
long way to go there are more than a
half a million children in foster care
in our country this year on the eve of
their 18th birthday 25,000 of them will
pack their bags and most of them will be
put out into the world to navigate it on
their own it is not that former foster
youth can’t be successful it is that the
journey is just much harder I believe
that we can help every single one of
them we must empower
them with direct services we must
advocate for systems change we must
measure our impact and be courageous
enough to apply the data that we find
but we also must listen to the stories
within the data we must connect this
work takes both head and heart my kids
they were on to something they wanted
the names of the young people that we
had helped when Noel Anaya
started as an intern at first place we
put him at the front desk there are two
doors that you can enter into our
offices from everyone always used his
including me and I guarantee you Noelle
knew everyone’s name thank
you
[Applause]
tonight I’m going to talk to you about
how we must lead with our head and our
heart if we want former foster youth to
be successful I have six year old twin
daughters and they have a pretty good
idea of what it is that I do for work
and one day they said daddy have you
ever helped Annie Annie was in foster
care right I pause thought about who
they were talking about it said no I’ve
never helped any but I have lot help
lots of other kids oh yeah they said
what were their names I was impressed
that my kids could make the connection
between any in the young people we serve
at first place for youth the
organization that I lead as I reflected
a little longer I realized that what
most of the world thinks of foster youth
is what happens to little Orphan Annie
the original idea was that a family
would enough love in his heart and
enough room in his house would bring in
a child treat that child that’s their
own and stick with them through thick or
thin fifty percent of kids who are put
into foster care will be placed with a
permanent family and most of those kids
will do okay the kids I work with they
represent the other 50% those who do not
find a permanent place to call home when
Noelle Anaya a current first place
participant was one year old he and his
five brothers and sisters were put into
foster care
today he is 21 in California that is
when young people age out this process
becomes official at a final court
hearing in Noel got rare permit
– to record his proceedings walking into
court for my very last time as a foster
youth I feel like I’m getting a divorce
from a system that I’ve been in a
relationship with almost my entire life
it’s bittersweet because I’m losing
guaranteed money for food and housing as
well as access to my social workers and
lawyer but on the other hand I’m
relieved to finally get away from the
system that ultimately failed me on its
biggest promise that one day it would
find me a family who would love me no
muss one record this is line 6 the
matter Knoll and I am yeah well Noel and
I are you guys been saying the wrong for
21 years
nobody pronounces it differently so
thank you though I’m glad to know it’s
Noel little things like when my judge
Shana Schwartz mispronounces my name
serve as a constant reminder that hey
I’m just a number I often come away
feeling powerless and anonymous in the
foster care system it is important to
note that foster care is largely a
manifestation of poverty
85% of kids who are placed in foster
care a place there because of something
called general neglect not abuse but
neglect which is another way of saying
there isn’t enough food there aren’t
enough clothes kids are being left home
alone because mom and dad are working we
must remember it is not that foster
youth don’t have families it is that
their families don’t have the means to
take care of them and whether or not you
believe that is because of decision
making or circumstance one thing I think
we all can agree on is that children
don’t choose their parents the typical
young person that comes into first place
for youth was put into foster care at
the age of 11 he or she has been moved
in and out of six different foster care
placements or group homes and been
forced to change schools at least three
times
this level of chaos comes at a price in
the kid’s life in 2016 one third of the
young people coming through our doors
did not have a high school diploma or a
GED a third of them had kids of their
own
over half had experienced homelessness
or been arrested two-thirds were
unemployed now I know you’re looking at
me and you’re saying yeah but this guy’s
from Oakland those are Oakland problems
but the national data tells a pretty
similar story data aside the biggest
thing that these young people have in
common in the most influential factor in
their lives is that they have lost their
family as a core asset I ask you to
think for just a moment how your life
might have turned out differently if we
removed your family from the picture
with the expectations that you had for
yourself have gotten bigger or smaller
would you be here today sitting in this
auditorium listening to me talk or would
you be somewhere else entirely different
I didn’t grow up in foster care but my
life does bear some similarities to the
young people we serve I grew up in
Indianola Mississippi the Mississippi
Delta for those of you who don’t know
Mississippi is one of the poorest states
in the country the Delta is one of the
poorest parts of Mississippi and where
my family and I are from where we’re
from the poorest County in the Delta my
mother and father were 15 and 17 when
they had me and more like my big brother
and sister than my parents in my early
20s a little bit older than the young
people we serve I moved out west my
family and I had a falling-out
and suddenly I was on my own I was
enrolled in Community College but the
money had sprouts together from doing
temporary work cleaning gutters and
working at the parks department was not
enough to pay the rent for the first
year and a half that I was in school I
was homeless I slept in my car and crash
with friends when I could during this
time in my life I don’t remember feeling
afraid what I do remember was thinking
even though I was homeless I was
probably in much better shape than I had
been in the last five or six years
mainly because I could see where my
future was going I was finally working
on something that was meaningful to me a
college degree back in my hometown the
best job that I could get degree or no
degree was making $13,000 a year
slinging 50-pound bags of potatoes at
the Super Value grocery factory it was
hard work it was respectable work but it
wasn’t the life that I wanted if we’re
going to empower former foster youth to
beat the odds
we must not continue to just give them
enough to get by that is not how we
break the cycle of poverty for these
kids that is not how we motivate them to
achieve their full potential so what do
we do well first you have to know what
you’re doing worked when I started at
first place for youth as CEO in 2005 I
asked a team how do you know that you’re
being successful with the young people
that you’re working with the answer I
got was well because when kids come back
they give us hugs
don’t get me wrong I like hugs but I
wasn’t about to paint our young people’s
success on hugs alone it wasn’t just
that I needed to get people to collect
data
I needed to get them to care about it we
created mantras like if you’re not
documenting it you’re not doing it it
was a cultural shift at the deepest
level I had people come to me and say I
didn’t go to school to collect data I
went to school to work with kids doing
this very tough transformation we’re
experienced almost 70% staff turnover
we went from using hardly any data in
our work to becoming one of the most
data-driven organizations in the country
if you were to ever visit first place my
office is on the first floor but the
decisions are made
upstairs in the data room because of
this shift we understand that if a young
person goes to ten group sessions that
that’s a turning point if we keep them
in program for 13 months we’re going to
get a key outcome for them a place to
live a job a degree if we want that
outcome to stick we need to keep them in
program for at least 18 months but I’m
also here to tell you that data alone
will not change lives over the last 10
years the social sector has been hype or
focused on trying to find a perfect
algorithm for success but just like
having that recipe doesn’t mean that the
dish you’re cooking is going to turn out
right following a program model doesn’t
guarantee success either I know I’ve
been trying to make my grandmother’s
famous sweet potato pie for the last 20
years Trust is not transactional and our
young people have been giving plenty of
reasons not to trust anyone building
authentic relationships with them takes
time the second thing that we’ve learned
is that sometimes before you can hold
someone accountable you must first hold
them we do not give up on kids who don’t
meet our outcomes or our expectations we
stick with them when a young person on
our team has been working really hard
for the last nine months and finally
lands her first job only to come into
your office three weeks later until you
she quit being in a real relationship
means that you’re allowed to get
frustrated with them but just like
family you’re not allowed to give up you
take a step back you redefine them what
goes you define the work in the
sacrifice required to hit them because
for every day that a young person takes
a step back there’s another day when you
find out a young man like Richard has
been catching the bus two and a half
hours early to make sure that he gets to
his college courses on time we must meet
kids where they’re at but have the
expectation that they will not remain
there in the heart in the tenacity to
see them through the third thing we have
learned is that we must feel the cracks
in the system direct services alone are
not the answer we must advocate for
widespread policy changes so that our
young people can achieve success at
scale policies even the ones created
with the best of intentions can
sometimes serve as trap doors that
people fall through versus bridges
across trouble time when I was homeless
standing in line to get food stamps was
one of the hardest most embarrassing
things that I’ve ever had to do
at that time they told me in order to
receive that benefit that I needed to
quit college but I knew that the bet
that education was the best shot I had
at never being in that line again I was
outraged and I wouldn’t be standing here
today if I had a quit school
when I worked in San Francisco with
homeless youth kids straight out of the
foster care system would show up at the
shelter with all of their worldly
possessions packed away in plastic bags
there was a bunch of press about it so
new funding came down to buy them sturdy
your luggage are you kidding me they
didn’t need better luggage they needed a
better plan it is incumbent upon those
doing this work in those funding this
work that we give kids what it is that
they really need to succeed we have to
help them see around corners and avoid
those trapped doors today the system
playing six months to a year in advance
of a young person’s eventual exit from
foster care the number of young people
transitioning from foster care directly
into homelessness has decreased by more
than 20% but what has not changed is the
number of former foster youth living
above the poverty level in the number of
them earning a living wage college
graduation rates are the same as they
were ten to fifteen years ago we have a
long way to go there are more than a
half a million children in foster care
in our country this year on the eve of
their 18th birthday 25,000 of them will
pack their bags and most of them will be
put out into the world to navigate it on
their own it is not that former foster
youth can’t be successful it is that the
journey is just much harder I believe
that we can help every single one of
them we must empower
them with direct services we must
advocate for systems change we must
measure our impact and be courageous
enough to apply the data that we find
but we also must listen to the stories
within the data we must connect this
work takes both head and heart my kids
they were on to something they wanted
the names of the young people that we
had helped when Noel Anaya
started as an intern at first place we
put him at the front desk there are two
doors that you can enter into our
offices from everyone always used his
including me and I guarantee you Noelle
knew everyone’s name thank
you
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