“New plan keeps young adults in foster system” . . . “A ‘paradigm shift’ for county’s efforts” . . .”it’s a radical approach that could see Allegheny County emerge as a model in serving transitioning youth“.

These are some of the quotes used in the today’s P-G article about an innovative, one shop, program being implemented for Allegheny County Foster Care young adults aging out of the system (age 18).  Each year 240 young adults age out of the foster care system in Allegheny County, and many end up homeless. To stem this tide, Marc Cherna and his team at the Department of Human Services implemented a innovative program to provide all kinds of wrap around services to these young adults and the results have been impressive:

• The number of foster care kids entering college has tripled in the last two years from 35 to 98;
• The number of homeless young adults have dropped since the program has begun

But it is still new — AND THAT’S WHERE PSVP COMES IN!

Last December, PSVP chose as it’s newest investee, Action Housing, a wonderful, innovative nonprofit organization that has met the housing needs of our community for man, many years.  Action Housing was chosen by the Department of Human Services to provide housing and wrap around services to the foster care young adults aging out of the system.

PSVP was asked by Action Housing to work with them in developing and implementing an evaluation of the new program.  PSVP’s decision to do so was also directly related to an earlier “Get Smart Session” we held with Marc Cherna, Director of  Human Services who brought this initiative to our attention.

So . . a couple of questions.

1. What do you think of this new approach to foster care?
2. How surprised are you to learn that at age 18 all services stop?
3. How would you approach developing an evaluation program for Action Housing?

Categories: Investments in the News.