“Earning a Bachelor’s degree is a big accomplishment for anyone – but especially for students who spent time as teenagers in foster care. The odds are stacked against them. But Detroit native Malaysha White is a success story…” […Continue Reading]

Coming from a community many of his peers weren’t able to attend college, Deyanco knew he wanted to lead a different life. He set a goal to transfer to Michigan and join the football team. With help from the Blavin Scholarship, which provides support for students who grew up in the foster care system, Deyanco was able to reach that goal and more.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, higher levels of education translate to higher employment rates and higher lifetime earnings. But for many students, both young and old, there are many obstacles that interfere with their higher education and career pursuits. Researchers at Reviews.com identified not having proper educational resources and/or the lack of financial funding as the most common factors. The site addressed these head-on in their recent guide so that students and families in can learn about their options and feel empowered to take advantage of the opportunities in front of them.

You can see Reviews.com free collection of guides and tools here:

• http://www.reviews.com/best-scholarship-search-platforms/
• http://www.reviews.com/online-tutoring/
• https://www.reviews.com/mooc-platforms/
• https://www.reviews.com/student-internship-platforms/

Paul and Amy Blavin continue their mission to help young people who are aging out of foster care pursue higher education. Enter their latest project: “Mully: Changing the World One Child at a Time.” Paul and Amy are executive producers of this important documentary film about Charles Mully – an abandoned Kenyan orphan who goes on to become a wealthy businessman and risks everything to provide a home to orphaned children across Kenya.

Earlier this month, Paul and Amy extended their outreach to over 80 movie theaters in Michigan, where representatives from Michigan’s Fostering Futures Scholarship organization were on hand with information about providing financial support, becoming a licensed foster parent, or adopting from foster care.

You can read Paul’s letter about this initiative in the Detroit News here – it’s inspiring!

For information about showings of “Mully” at a theater near you, visit mullymovie.com.

And, if you, too, would like to help Michigan’s foster children, please visit michigan.gov/hopeforahome.

The KIDS COUNT network is a collection of organizations dedicated to promoting helpful policies on issues that impact child welfare. This project – part of the Annie E. Casey Foundation – is a trusted source of family and child data. Each year, the Foundation produces a comprehensive report — the KIDS COUNT Data Book — that evaluates the well being of children in the US.

The 2017 KIDS COUNT Data Book contains data devoted to kids in the US becoming healthier, more likely to complete high school and in a better position to contribute to the economy as adults. New Hampshire was found to be the best state for general child well-being while Louisiana, New Mexico and Mississippi were the three lowest-ranked states.

The Children’s Action Alliance (CAA) is Arizona’s KIDS COUNT organization. CAA is a non-profit focused on  promoting the well-being of all of Arizona’s children and families.