Celebrate National Foster Care Month: Support the Higher Education Access and Success for Homeless and Foster Youth Act!

Unaccompanied homeless youth and youth from foster care encounter many barriers to higher education. These vulnerable young people contend with histories of abuse, neglect, trauma, and frequent educational disruption caused by mobility. They struggle without parental care or other adult support, and frequently lack the basics that most of us take for granted, like shelter and food. Higher education is their best hope for a better life.

In November 2013, Senators Patty Murray (WA), Tammy Baldwin (WI), and Mary Landrieu (LA) introduced S. 1754, the Higher Education Access and Success for Homeless and Foster Youth Act. This proposed law gives youth a meaningful opportunity to succeed through the following measures:

 It improves access to postsecondary education by:

• Clarifying that youth under age 24 who are found to be unaccompanied and homeless are considered independent students and eliminating the requirement for unaccompanied homeless youths’ status to be re-determined every year; and

• Requiring that institutions of higher education disseminate public notice about financial aid policies for unaccompanied homeless youth and youth in or coming from foster care.

It makes college more affordable for homeless and foster youth by:

• Providing homeless and foster youth in-state tuition to reduce barriers to college attendance due to lack of financial support; and

• Prioritizing homeless and foster youth for the federal work study program.

It increases retention and success of homeless and foster youth by requiring institutions of higher education to:

• Designate a single point of contact to assist homeless and foster youth to access and complete higher education;
• Develop a plan to assist homeless and foster youth to access housing resources during and between academic terms; and
• Requiring that TRIO and GEAR-UP—college access programs—reach out to and recruit homeless and foster youth and review and reduce barriers to access to these programs that exist among foster and homeless youth.

View this fact sheet to get more information on how S.1754 helps foster and homeless youth.

What Can YOU Do To Help?

In just two quick steps, you can take meaningful action right now to support foster and homeless youth by letting legislators know that you want them to support the Higher Education Access and Success for Homeless and Foster Youth Act. Garnering this support—particularly during National Foster Care Month—will be critical to moving this legislation forward.

1. Sign on to this Change.org petition, created by three youth who experienced homelessness and foster care.

Courtney Smith, Jessie McCormick, and Brandy Sincyr all faced significant challenges in getting their college education. They want homeless and foster youth to receive the assistance and support they deserve and need to have a fair shot at success. Their petition currently has 512 signatures. Our goal is to bring that number up to 20,000 by the end of Foster Care Month.  Help us meet this goal! 

2. After you’ve signed the petition, take one minute to help spread the word via social media.

Thunderclap is a service that allows you to amplify an important message via social media. If you help us reach our goal of having 100 supporters share our message about signing this petition, the message will be blasted out on your social media network at the same time as all other supporters—which will help gather more signatures for the petition and create powerful visibility that Congress can’t ignore.  

For more information on how Thunderclap works, check out this quick video: 

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvPfuV00-1k]

Stay tuned for more blog posts throughout this month on how to improve the lives of foster youth across the country.