Foster Arizona Housing is for young adults that have aged-out of Foster Care. It’s our mission to help bridge the gap between impacting kids in foster care to impacting young adults as they transition out of foster care and successfully transition into independent living.

This has been an exciting year of learning and growing. I personally can’t imagine being on my own at 18 years of age. I always had family and strong support systems to rely on. These young adults are moving from Foster Care to being on their own. They are kind, creative, intelligent, and polite young adults who have bright futures ahead of them. Some are experiencing freedom for the first time. Some have struggled and made bad choices and just need help getting back on their feet.

Foster Arizona subsidizes their rent, sets up their apartments with furniture, personal items, and kitchen items and partners with other agencies to help them be successful. We work to get them bikes, computers, beds, locking trunks, bus passes, etc. It takes a village. All of these tangible things help and make a difference, but it’s our mentors that make the real difference.

Mentors partner with the young adults and walk along side of them while they participate in the 1 year program. They are their friends and sometimes the family they don’t have. Mentors encourage them in their education, employment, and housing transition goals. Mentors talk them through decisions while encouraging, empowering, and educating these young adults.

One young adult said of her mentor, “this is the first time I’m going for a medical procedure and I have someone to take and sit with me the whole time. I’m not alone”. Another young adult said of his mentor, “it’s great to just talk and know I’m on the right track.” And another said, “I’ve got this, I have a plan, I talked it through this with my mentor, and I can do this.”

Mentoring is about helping these young adults to become the best they can be.

Currently we have 10 young adults in housing and are planning to add 10 more in the next year. If you would like to be a mentor, make a contribution, or find out more information please contact me.

Foster Arizona Housing

Mae Moore, Director of Housing

Mae@Fosteraz.com or 602.390.0092