Foster Youth Deserve More!!!
I am a licensed Social Worker in Baltimore MD. I have worked with foster youth in Baltimore City for the past 10 years in many different capacities. Frustrated with the system and the homeless rates of former foster youth, I developed my own program to improve those outcomes. Looking forward to great discussions with everyone.
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I'll post more in depth next week after we sign the lease this Friday but we're helping a local non-profit coffee shop that employees aged-out foster youth. This coffee shop asked us if we had any residential space available for rent. One of the youth was homeless and sleeping in the basement of the coffee shop. We didn't have anything for rent so we bought a fixer upper and fixed it. It took roughly two months between finding a property, closing and rehab to get the property ready and, by that time, that particular youth found housing. Just two weeks ago the director of the coffee shop, Lisa, let us know another employee was losing his housing just as we're finishing this rehab so he moves in Friday. We're offering discounted rent, no security deposit and no last months rent to the employee so we can get them housed. They were living with family but the family member wasn't paying property taxes and the property is going to sheriffs sale next week.
If everybody did what they could to help, just imagine how great the world would be!