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Relationship Manager - Real Connections

The goal of Real Connections is to ensure that all youth leave state care with positive, permanent adult connections and options for a successful future. The role of the Relationship Manager is to identify adults from the youth’s own background and/or from the community that can become lifelong supports or mentor them during their transition to adulthood. The mentoring relationship has a special focus on assisting them to achieve a specific independent living skill goal such as education, vocation or obtaining housing. Duties include working with youth to map out their existing network of connections, working with interns to mine case records for additional information on potential adult connections; contacting adults to assess their ability to engage; connecting with DCYF workers and caregivers; helping to conduct mentor trainings with other members of the Real Connections team; conducting interviews with potential mentors; and following and supporting the relationships to ensure the youth’s employment, education and permanency goals are met.

This is a full-time position. Candidates should possess a minimum of a BSW or related degree and proven experience relating to teens and adults from a variety of backgrounds.

Applicants should send a resume and cover letter by August 2nd to the attention of Kat Keenan either by email at kat.keenan@rifpa.org or mail at Rhode Island Foster Parents Association, 55 South Brow Street, East Providence, RI 02914.

The RI Foster Parents Association seeks to hire a Research Assistant to help build and maintain connections to youth in foster care, youth formerly in foster care, and youth involved with Juvenile Corrections. The RI Foster Parents Association is responsible for providing youth development services and supports to the foster care and juvenile justice population to help them achieve permanency and self-sufficiency through the Consolidated Youth Services (CYS) Program. The CYS program is designed to ensure that older youth who are, or were in the care and custody of the Department are provided the tools, resources and opportunities which will increase the likelihood that they will successfully transition from the care of the RI Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) to adulthood.

As part of the CYS Program with DCYF, the Research Assistant will help to ensure Rhode Island’s compliance with the federal National Youth in Transition Database requirements and to help connect youth to services and supports. Duties of the Research Assistant will include: Working with Consolidated Youth Services staff to schedule and conduct National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) surveys; helping to locate and maintain contact with youth through at least age 21 years old for follow up; supporting data entry for all CYS programs; helping facilitate the connection of youth surveyed to community resources as needed; and supporting research on outcomes, best practice, and development, as needed.

This is an entry level, full-time position. Candidates should possess a high school diploma or equivalent. Must be detail oriented, organized and have the ability to perform clerical duties.  Must possess excellent computer skills including web-based software programs, MS Word, Excel and Access. Must have access to transportation, good people skills, and the ability to work non-traditional hours with a flexible schedule. Candidates with prior personal experience in the foster care system strongly encouraged to apply.

Applicants should send a resume and cover letter by August 2nd to the attention of Kat Keenan either by email at kat.keenan@rifpa.org or mail at Rhode Island Foster Parents Association, 55 South Brow Street, East Providence, RI 02914.

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The Rhode Island Foster Parents Association is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Award supports work of RIFPA’s ASPIRE program over three year grant award
East Providence, RI (January 21, 2010)

The Rhode Island Foster Parents Association (RIFPA) has received an award of $213,000 for its ASPIRE program. The award from the United Way of Rhode Island (UWRI) will be paid over three years and is earmarked for the IDA financial literacy program that emphasize building savings, increasing income, and gaining and sustaining assets.

The ASPIRE Initiative empowers youth in foster care to get on the path to economic self-sufficiency through financial literacy training, assistance in accessing employment and education services, and support in saving toward purchasing and sustaining, durable assets. The first step involves a 12 hour, classroom based, comprehensive financial literacy training.

ASPIRE utilizes a nationally recognized curriculum customized to meet the unique needs of youth in foster care developed by the Nation Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative. The financial literacy class culminates in youth opening Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) on the last day of classes, in which savings are matched dollar for dollar up to $1,000 per year toward the purchase of durables assets. According to the FDIC Quarterly, the strategy of offering IDAs to under-banked populations shows extraordinary promise as a means of attracting these households to the banking business and avoiding costly non-bank financial transactions. We work in partnership with local banks and credit unions to facilitate the opening of accounts at the end of class.

The ASPIRE Initiative is more than just financial literacy training. We believe it is important to ensure the youth in and aging out of foster care have a solid foundation underneath them to become successful adults they need access to community resources and supports. The ASPIRE Initiative’s key strategies that support youth’s ability to become financially successful adults include increased opportunities for youth engagement, increased permanency, actively involving systems disseminating best practices, and galvanizing public will to focus on changing policy to provide needed supports for youth.

Locally developed opportunities for youth, called “Door Openers”, connect youth with the services or individuals who can help them to succeed, primarily in the areas of financial security, credit repair, and debt reduction, community resources and supports, education, housing, health, and employment. One-on-one asset specific coaching is offered to all youth in preparation of the purchase of their specified asset to ensue that youth have the knowledge and skills needed to make informed decisions. Through the youth leadership board, young people receive training and opportunities to network, communicate, and develop personal and systemic advocacy skills. Additionally, youth in need of permanent supportive adult relationships are referred to our Real Connections Program. The Real Connections Program believes that in order for youth to succeed into adulthood it is important for them to have a network of personal connections to rely on during transition and identified people that they can count on throughout their life. The Real Connections Program in collaboration with DCYF helps to identify and strengthen adult connection for youth in care along a continuum of permanency.

By providing a continuum of wrap-around services to youth in ASPIRE, youth are supported in their efforts to learn and implement sound financial management skills and are supported in their efforts to secure financial assets.
The ASPIRE Initiative works in a public/private partnership at the state and local level to provide more opportunities and improve outcomes in the areas of employment, education, housing, mental and physical health care, and personal and community engagement, for young people aging out of the foster are system. The ASPIRE Initiative recognizes that young people have a better chance of succeeding if they have strong support from their communities; and those systems partners - both public and private - are best informed of the needs of older youth in care by those young people themselves.

Kat Keenan, ASPIRE Initiative Director at the Rhode Island Foster Parents Association, welcomed this critical investment in the ASPIRE Initiative stating, “For youth in and aging out of foster care, the financial literacy education and applied learning in sound financial practice is a critical step in their successful transition to adulthood. We look forward to working in partnership with the United Way of RI to deliver quality financial stability programs to some Rhode Island’s most vulnerable youth.

The mission of the Rhode Island Foster Parents Association (RIFPA) is to provide education and other forms of support to families that provide substitute care and to the community at large, in order to further the cause of children who cannot live with their parents. As part of an integrated strategy, RIFPA identifies and addresses the gaps that separate state agencies, foster families, and children in need of care. We harness existing statewide infrastructures around employment, financial literacy and savings, and adult supports to meet the needs of disenfranchised youth without duplicating efforts.

For more information about Rhode Island Foster Parents Association or its ASPIRE program, please contact Lisa Guillette at (401) 438-3900 x104.

Click here for the full press release from the United Way of Rhode Island.

Work in the banking and finance world? Interested in helping at-risk youth reduce their debt and repair their credit? Please consider submitting a Debt Reduction and Credit Repair Workshop proposal to us by February 5th, 2010! See the PDF link below for more information.

Click here for PDF document

Providence, RI - The Rhode Island Foster Parents Association (RIFPA) and federal and state leaders announced today the awarding of a $2 million Children’s Bureau federal grant to support RIFPA and nine partner agencies in efforts to establish permanent homes for the area’s foster youth.

The dollars will be spread out over three years to help children in foster care, or at risk of entering foster care, reconnect and reestablish relationships with family members, and to support those transitioning families.

Congressmen Patrick J. Kennedy and Jim Langevin, along with Rhode Island Department of Children Youth and Families Director Patricia Martinez and Casey Family Services Rhode Island Division Director Jim Gannaway joined RIFPA Executive Director Lisa Guillette at Casey Family Services to celebrate the award.

The grant represents the largest financial award to East Providence-based RIFPA in its 14-year history.

“This is unprecedented for Rhode Island Foster Parents Association,” said Executive Director Lisa Guillette. “We’re really thrilled first and foremost for the children and the youth in the state that we serve, and for the Rhode Island child welfare system as a whole. It’s also a huge win for us and our partner agencies.”

The grant will fund:

1. Intensive, high-tech search efforts to connect foster youth with biological family members through methods such as electronic mapping and in-depth reviews of case records
2. Inclusive decision-making support for families
3. Kinship navigation systems, including online and in-person peer support, to help family ties flourish

“Each year, as many as 26,000 youth age out of foster care without the support and resources they need to meet the challenges of early adulthood,” Congressmen Kennedy said. “I am pleased that Rhode Island Foster Parents Association was awarded over $2 million to improve this reality and help more youth obtain the family and personal connections they deserve.”

Congressmen Langevin said, “While I know first-hand the positive influence foster parents can have on a child, through my parents opening our home to many wonderful children, I am keenly aware that more can be done to keep children with their biological families. This grant aims to do just that by keeping children connected with their own families. I look forward to following this program and to seeing more children have access to safe and loving homes.”

While RIFPA was the lead agency and the grant applicant, the grant also provides manpower and resources to the following partner agencies:

• Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families

• Rhode Island College School of Social Work

• Casey Family Services

• Adoption Rhode Island

• Blackstone Valley Advocacy Center

• Children’s Friend

• Family Resources Community Action

• Family Service

• Providence Children’s Museum

The competitive grant was authorized by the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.

“This grant provides the opportunity for DCYF to enhance and strengthen our system of care transformation, where all the activities and principles of a wraparound process are at the core of family-group decision making,” said Patricia Martinez, director of DCYF. “These funds will allow us to expand the partnership with the coalition of communities agencies working with DCYF to help children, youth and families achieve better outcomes for safety, well-being and permanency.”

About Rhode Island Foster Parents Association
The mission of the Rhode Island Foster Parents Association is to provide education and other forms of support to families that provide substitute care, and to the community at large, in order to further the cause of children who cannot live with their parents. As a resource for foster families, the RIFPA emphasizes the importance of learning from experience and using newfound knowledge to improve current practice.

For photos from the 7th Annual Cheeseburgers in Paradise, “Sail Me Home” event, click here.

July 14, 2009

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Citizens Bank, Rhode Island and NBC 10 today named the ASPIRE Program at RI Foster Parents Association in East Providence as their 2009 third quarter Champion in Action in the financial literacy category. As part of the award, RI Foster Parents Association will receive a $25,000 grant, media coverage and extensive promotional and volunteer support for its outstanding work.

The grant will be used to support the association’s ASPIRE (Aligning Savings, Permanency, Information, Resources and Empowerment) program. Since 2005, RI Foster Parents Association has used the ASPIRE program as a pathway to financial literacy for youth in foster care. ASPIRE’s mission is to support the growing needs of underserved Rhode Island youth from ages 14-24 by leading them on the path to economic self-sufficiency.

“Citizens Bank is pleased to name the ASPIRE Program at RI Foster Parents Association as the newest Champion in Action in the financial literacy category,” said Joseph J. MarcAurele, President, Citizens Bank, Rhode Island. “I am especially impressed with how the ASPIRE curriculum teaches youth how to effectively manage their money and become knowledgeable consumers.”

“NBC 10 is proud to honor the exceptional work of the RI Foster Parents Association. This organization successfully transitions youth to adulthood through unique and innovative programs,” said Lisa Churchville, President and General Manager of NBC 10.

Champions in Action is a joint initiative of Citizens Bank and NBC10, launched seven years ago, to recognize and support nonprofit organizations for their contributions to Rhode Island communities. A new Champion in Action is selected each quarter among a range of social service topics.

RI Foster Parents Association is being recognized for:

• Teaching more than 240 youth across Rhode Island how to effectively manage their money and become knowledgeable financial consumers.
• Providing these youth with a matching savings account up to $1,000 a year for their life goals.
• Helping youth achieve self-sufficiency through mentoring, leadership development and internship opportunities.

As a Champion in Action, RI Foster Parents Association will receive:

• A $25,000 contribution in unrestricted funds from Citizens Bank.
• Media coverage from NBC 10, including public service announcements and television profiles.
• Volunteer support from Citizens and NBC 10 employees.
• Extensive public relations support.
• Promotional support, highlighting the “Champion in Action” in all Citizens Bank branches and on its ATMs.
• Exposure on both Citizens Bank and NBC 10 Web sites.

“Many youth in foster care assume adult responsibility at the age of 18 without the emotional and financial support of a family. The ASPIRE financial literacy curriculum provides youth with the knowledge and skills they need to successfully transition to adulthood,” said Lisa Guillette, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Foster Parents Association. “Our selection as a Champion in Action provides an incredible opportunity to work with Citizens Bank and NBC 10; bringing critical endorsement to the ASPIRE Initiative while raising awareness regarding the needs of youth in foster care.”

For more information about the Citizens Bank / NBC10 Champions in Action program, visit www.citizensbank.com/community or www.turnto10.com. To learn more about how to contribute through donations or volunteerism to RI Foster Parents Association call (401) 438-3900.

Pictured (left to right): Lisa Churchville, President and General Manager of NBC 10; Lisa Guillette, Executive Director of RIFPA; and Joseph J. MarcAurele, President, Citizens Bank, Rhode Island

In Recognition of National Foster Care Month Rhode Island Foster Parents Association Honors Foster Parents for Their Contributions and Dedication. 500 foster parents were honored on May 8th and individual awards were presented to R.I. State Representative Mary Ann Shallcross Smith, Jim and Robin Vallese, Trisha Molloy and Michael and Patricia Lill.

Click here for more.

Make a tax deductible contribution to our annual campaign and make a difference for Rhode Island children in foster care.

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