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NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ -
Raleigh, NC, United States, 2008/12/29 - Fostering Bright Futures, a new program committed to helping former foster children in Wake County achieve lifelong independence through higher education, has announced its leadership team for 2009.
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Members serving on the non-profit program’s advisory council include:
• Jim Holmes, council chairman. Holmes is a partner at TriSure.
• Kenn Gardner, founding principal of Isosceles Design.
• Patrick Lindsey, a partner at Dixon Hughes.
• Kelly Musico, co-owner of MVP Plan Administrators Inc.
• Virginia Parker, vice president and market development officer at Paragon Commercial Bank, and
• Mike Waldrop, a partner at Kittrell, Armstrong and Waldrop.
The Fostering Bright Futures advisory board is responsible for raising private resources to support the non-profit program helping former Wake County foster children earn degrees from Wake Technical Community College by assisting with housing costs, education-related fees and other everyday expenses.
Fostering Bright Futures also provides these promising young people access to academic tutors and career counselors, as well as life coaches to help manage time and money, set goals, model professional behavior and adopt other skills that position youths for independence.
“As I tell people, being a foster child is tough, but being a former foster child can be tougher,” Holmes said. “With no place to call home and little secondary education, these former wards of our state often find themselves struggling to make ends meet, much less aspiring to achieve loftier academic or professional goals. We hope to change that. ”
For a former foster child to graduate from Wake Tech defies the odds: Fewer than 10 percent of traditional college-aged children emerging from foster care enroll in post-secondary education. Worse still, a mere 2 percent actually graduate.
Fostering Bright Futures is a new Wake County-based program made possible through a partnership of the following:
• Wake County Human Services’ Bridge to Independence initiative, which will identify participants and match them with life coaches;
• Wake Technical Community College, which will provide participants with financial aid and career counseling services, as well as academic tutoring;
• Wake Technical Community College Foundation, which will act as fiscal agent and oversee logistics of the program, including success milestones; and
• The Fostering Bright Futures advisory board, a group of local business and community leaders dedicated to raising awareness and private funding for the program.
Fostering Bright Futures recently received a contribution of $150,000 over three years from software giant SAS. The SAS gift will help five former foster children attend Wake Tech, Holmes said.
To learn more about Fostering Bright Futures and its work to help former Wake County foster children achieve lifelong independence, visit us online.
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