$10M to get mentors for foster youth

Thousands of kids in foster care will be paired with coaches, mentors and tutors through a $10 million initiative, city officials announced Wednesday.

The program will match all of the roughly 3,300 11- to 21-yearolds in city foster care with longterm adult mentors to ease the transition into colleges, jobs and adult life.

“New York City will serve as a national model by becoming the first city in the nation to provide dedicated coaches for youth in foster care,” said Administration for Children’s Services Commissioner David Hansell.

Foster care advocates launched a campaign to call for the funding of one-on-one coaches in March, citing low graduation rates for kids in foster care. Just 21% of young adults who age out of the system have a high school diploma, advocates said.

City Council allocated $10 million for the new coaches in the 2019 budget. Officials said that works out to just over $3,000 per child. ACS plans to distribute to the money to the city’s 27 foster care agencies, which will hire their own staff to serve as coaches and mentors. Hansell said the agencies will get some latitude in how to spend the money, but expects many will bring on the coaches as full-time employees.

Gabbie Rodriguez, a 22-yearold City College student who spent time in foster care, said having a coach kept her from dropping out of colleg.

“We’re more than just caseloads,” Rodriguez said. “We’re people with lives and aspirations, and we deserve to be cared for, thought of, and supported.”