Former foster youth program
expands to Mather apartments
After 15 placements in a variety of foster and group homes since she was 6, 19-year-old Franky Ramirez was understandably anxious when she and fellow residents of Volunteers of America’s transitional housing for former foster youth program learned of the agency’s plan to relocate them from group-home sites to its studio-apartment complex in the Rancho Cordova suburb of Mather.
The April move was designed as a better stepping stone to complete independence for the young men and women whose commonality is having aged out of the foster-care system.
“It’s meant that they can have their own space and privacy,” said Ellen O’Neil, program director, “and manage their own apartment like an adult. For some, it’s the first time they have had anything they could call their own.”
“When I first got here, it was kind of lonely – but not anymore,” said Ramirez, who is working toward a career in fashion design as a student at Sacramento City College. “I’m like a bicycle with the training wheels coming off. My whole life I had to share everything. Now I have my own apartment, my own cable. I pay my own bills.”
Ramirez, who said she had a history of running away from foster homes “when I didn’t feel like I belonged,” now looks back on her life in “the system” with a positive outlook that belies the rebellious teen that first came to Volunteers of America. “If I hadn’t moved so much, I wouldn’t have met the people I’ve met. I still keep in contact with my former group homes and still see the friends I met there.”
Dalene Ingraham, program assistant, said Ramirez has blossomed since coming to Volunteers of America.
“Franky’s really had a big turnaround since being with us,” said Ingraham.
The mix of privacy and responsibility that’s come with the move to the new facility, which Volunteers of America celebrated with an October 16 open-house event (complete with barbecue and carnival-type games and activities), has meant even greater growth for the youth.
“I love everything about it,” said 18-year-old Noelle Gordon (pictured) of the Mather site where she’s taken advantage of the program’s employment-counseling services and is now working for Lutheran Social Services. “I’m thrilled with having my own apartment, my own address, my own apartment number – even my own junk mail.”
See below for photographs from the Oct. 16, 2008, LaVerne Adolfo Transitional Housing Program for Former Foster Youth open house at Mather:
Former foster youth program
expands to Mather apartments
After 15 placements in a variety of foster and group homes since she was 6, 19-year-old Franky Ramirez was understandably anxious when she and fellow residents of Volunteers of America’s transitional housing for former foster youth program learned of the agency’s plan to relocate them from group-home sites to its studio-apartment complex in the Rancho Cordova suburb of Mather.
The April move was designed as a better stepping stone to complete independence for the young men and women whose commonality is having aged out of the foster-care system.
“It’s meant that they can have their own space and privacy,” said Ellen O’Neil, program director, “and manage their own apartment like an adult. For some, it’s the first time they have had anything they could call their own.”
“When I first got here, it was kind of lonely – but not anymore,” said Ramirez, who is working toward a career in fashion design as a student at Sacramento City College. “I’m like a bicycle with the training wheels coming off. My whole life I had to share everything. Now I have my own apartment, my own cable. I pay my own bills.”
Ramirez, who said she had a history of running away from foster homes “when I didn’t feel like I belonged,” now looks back on her life in “the system” with a positive outlook that belies the rebellious teen that first came to Volunteers of America. “If I hadn’t moved so much, I wouldn’t have met the people I’ve met. I still keep in contact with my former group homes and still see the friends I met there.”
Dalene Ingraham, program assistant, said Ramirez has blossomed since coming to Volunteers of America.
“Franky’s really had a big turnaround since being with us,” said Ingraham.
The mix of privacy and responsibility that’s come with the move to the new facility, which Volunteers of America celebrated with an October 16 open-house event (complete with barbecue and carnival-type games and activities), has meant even greater growth for the youth.
“I love everything about it,” said 18-year-old Noelle Gordon (pictured) of the Mather site where she’s taken advantage of the program’s employment-counseling services and is now working for Lutheran Social Services. “I’m thrilled with having my own apartment, my own address, my own apartment number – even my own junk mail.”
See below for photographs from the Oct. 16, 2008, LaVerne Adolfo Transitional Housing Program for Former Foster Youth open house at Mather: