The Fostering Academics Mentoring Excellence Program, a community program of the MSU School of Social Work, recently was named one of 15 local, state and national youth and family serving initiatives making a critical difference in the lives of youth in foster care by the Center for the Study of Social Policy, a national organization based in Washington, D.C.
The FAME Program was recognized because of its commitment to building qualities that help youth (age 11-26) – particularly those in the child welfare system - mitigate or eliminate risk and promote healthy development and well-being. The FAME Program works with MSU students that have been in foster care, kinship care, legal guardianship or have experienced homelessness. FAME provides supportive resources and services to assist students in achieving academic and personal success. FAME’s mission is to improve the educational outcomes for foster care alumni and ensure that a greater number of youth in foster care have access to higher education and receive the support needed to graduate and earn a diploma.
These initiatives all exemplify CSSP’s Youth Thrive™ framework, which is built around five research-informed factors: youth resilience, social connections and concrete support in times of need, knowledge of adolescent development, cognitive and social-emotional competence in youth.
The FAME Program will provide CSSP and the child welfare field with on the ground examples of policies, training and programs that operationalize the Youth Thrive protective and promotive factors. That information will be used to help influence program and public policy change across the country. Programs were selected out of more than 130 nominees and were chosen after a rigorous review that included a detailed written application, extensive site visits and interviews with youth, families and staff.
For more information, contact Andrea Martineau at (517) 353-5537 or at Mart1525@msu.edu.