As they step into Foster Forward’s Community Storefront, 16 Bryant undergrads are surrounded by racks of clothing for boys and girls ranging from infants to teens. The colorful and welcoming space, lined with stocked bookshelves, also features bean bag chairs, toys, games, puzzles, and bikes, as well as personal hygiene and household items.
Everything in the Pawtucket store, managed by Rhode Island nonprofit Foster Forward, was donated and is available for free for foster families and young adults who have aged out of state care.
In Rhode Island, kids in foster care "age out” of the system at 18 years old but may opt into a Voluntary Extension of Care Program that goes to age 21. Still, the transition into adulthood can be challenging. This semester, students in Associate Professor of Legal Studies Katayoun Alidadi Ph.D.’s “General Education Capstone” course partnered with Foster Forward on their 401Gives campaign as well as several initiatives focused on financial literacy, employment, mentorship, and housing.
“It’s been a great opportunity for connecting academia to what’s going on in the community,” says Alidadi.
Projects that make an impact
Bryant’s “General Education Capstone” serves as the final course of the university’s general education program, officially known as Impact Core, and integrates students’ skills that were honed across the curriculum. Through their understanding of innovation and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals — which serve as the basis of the program — undergrads tackle a real-world problem with a community partner.
Working with Foster Forward, students watched documentaries on foster care, heard from the non-profit’s executive director, and interviewed Foster Forward staff members to develop an understanding of the foster care system and offer recommendations for pressing issues.
Charlotte Wymes ’27 and her group — which included Adrian Ali ’27, Ryan Sokol ’27, and Sean Fancher ’27 — leveraged design thinking and systems thinking to analyze Foster Forward’s Your Way Home initiative, which assists young people between 18 and 24 who were formerly in state care and are experiencing homelessness. Foster Forward helps with housing navigation and short-term rental assistance by providing supportive case management services — such as providing young people with housing vouchers and access to their East Providence-based drop-in center, which offers showers, laundry, and food services.
“Aging out is a critical moment where basic needs often go unmet. Many youths are unprepared to live independently, and emotional trauma that they feel during their childhoods continues in this phase,” says Ali, noting that the broader housing crisis adds another challenge for older youth.
Focusing on housing, the group highlighted that the organization could host networking events for landlords to reduce the stigma that foster youth are unreliable and high-risk. Additionally, creating a tenant education program that consists of workshops could help youths understand tenant rights and responsibilities under state and local law and train them on how to read and understand lease agreements.
“Our other recommendation would be to launch a social platform, like a Facebook group, where foster youth could connect and discuss shared housing,” says Sokol.
Benefits for both partners
Assisting with Foster Forward’s 401Gives campaign, undergrads also created content that was pushed out through social media and email messaging to raise awareness about foster youth and seek donations to support Foster Forward’s services. 401Gives brings people together each year to celebrate and support Rhode Island nonprofits. This year, Foster Forward raised nearly $340,000 — surpassing its goal of $300,000 and raising more than any participating non-profit in the state.
Foster Forward's Marketing and Communications Coordinator Allison DeGerlia notes that the organization is always trying to find new ways to collaborate with others to raise awareness about kids in foster care and why it’s important to support them. Partnering with Bryant undergrads not only gave the organization an opportunity to get an outside perspective and see what they could do differently but also show undergrads how they could make an impact in their community.
Executive Director Lisa Guillette added that the experience allowed students to learn about philanthropy.
“These are our future leaders,” says Guillette.
Throughout the semester, the two regularly touched base with the class; however, it wouldn’t be until the end of semester presentations during the last week of classes that the organization leaders heard students’ recommendations.
Looking toward the future
Projecting their PowerPoint onto a screen in their Academic Innovation Center classroom, Gabriel Corriveau ’27, Theodore Woods ’27, Ben Hurd ’27, and Kyle Abbott ’27 discussed Foster Forward’s Aspire program, which provides financial education and assistance to help kids in foster care, and those who have recently aged out, learn how to manage and save money. Meant for ages 14 through 26, participants engage in training and receive $100 toward the opening of a savings account, and a dollar-for-dollar match, up to $1,000 per year.
Undergrads shared that they chatted with Foster Forward's Youth Support Specialist Nate Ventura and learned that many foster youth struggle with managing their finances. The group, therefore, focused on additional financial education opportunities to enhance Aspire and provided several ways to amplify the partnership between Bryant and Foster Forward.
RELATED ARTICLE: Bryant brothers raise thousands for charity in first marathon run
As they wrapped up their presentation, Alidadi challenged the group to think of how they could push their project forward. The group emphasized that future students could review the group’s presentation and notes and visit Foster Forward’s storefront and current financial class offerings to build off the work that had been completed this semester.
“This is something that can be tangible and worked on moving forward,” says Corriveau, as the next wave of students will continue supporting at-risk populations this fall.
