Advocating for Dreams is a nonprofit agency providing support and training programs for at-risk youth in Bergen and Passaic Counties, New Jersey. The Agency will form partnerships with local school districts, the juvenile court system, local small businesses as well as local government agencies. The goal of Advocating for Dreams is to foster a commitment to at-risk youth that will promote job read
iness, life skills, and reassert a sense of hope in the future. Only through peer relationships can a sense of individual responsibility be reestablished that will give youth the commitment to follow through on a path to adulthood with a sense of pride and accomplishment. Through constant instability and a lack of nurturing structure, many at-risk youth are forced to fend for themselves and resort to short term solutions when it comes to aging out. Taking into consideration everything a foster youth goes through -- such as childhood abuse, neglect and abandonment -- Advocating for Dreams’ mission is to prevent that from transpiring. Advocating for Dreams believes the solution is to collaborate with government agencies as well as small businesses and other existing nonprofit agencies to better provide safety nets for aging out youth. Advocating for Dreams is an agency that is formed in direct response to the growing number of young people that are either falling through the cracks in foster care or are already entangled with the juvenile court system. The goal of the agency is to identify youths who are going to have a turbulent transition to adulthood and offer positive support systems to avoid the pitfalls that can derail their lives. The focus may differ at each level in respect to individual needs, but the goal remains the same; to empower the foster youth to make positive changes in his/her life. The goal of the agency is to identify youths who are going to have a turbulent transition to adulthood and offer positive support system to avoid the pitfalls that can derail their lives. The focus may differ at each level in respect to individual needs but the goal remains the same; to empower the foster youth to make positive changes in his/her life. Advocating for Dreams will focus primarily on aging out youth as well as aged out youth. The latest available statistics (2011) show that over 26,000 youth in foster care are aging out of the system annually; making it the third largest reason for leaving foster care in the United States. Aging out youth are behind reunification with parents (125,000/year) and adoption (49,000/year). These figures, from The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), equate to approximately one out of every nine youth in foster care aging out of care. The Child Welfare League of America reported in 2007 that as many as 36% of foster youth who have aged out of the system become homeless, 56% become unemployed and 27% of male former foster youth become jailed. This age group is particularly problematic and a perfect time for peer support to be effective. Advocating for Dreams programs will provide services to these young people by peer to peer relationships as well as distributing resources and action plans to promote an effective transition to adulthood. Peer support counselors will be continuously trained and certified throughout the year and will participate in weekly meetings to report the young person's progress. Over time, Advocating for Dreams will create an everlasting relationship with these young people that will effectively promote the well being and stability in and out of care. This will be an invaluable resource to young people, aspiring peer support advocates and the community at large.
