Our Crowdfunding Groups
An OSU student organization, Foster Youth Advocates (FYA) exists to provide a place for community, connection, and service for OSU students with experience in the foster care system and other OSU students desiring to make an impact on foster youth and those who support them.
Considered a “hidden population” on America’s college campuses, former foster youth enroll and persist at four-year colleges at considerably lower rates than the general population. For former foster youth who enter college, food insecurity, lack of community, and economic hardship challenge their successful degree completion with over half leaving college after one year. Former foster youth have been found to benefit from targeted support programs and a sense of social connections on campus.
Whenever possible, FYA provides a shared meal during general meetings, seeking to meet both the relational and physical needs of our members. In our general meetings each semester, FYA seeks to educate their members on topics relevant to supporting the success of former foster youth at OSU. We also organize service opportunities benefiting fostering and child service agencies in our surrounding community. As an example, each fall we volunteer at “Friendsgiving” at Peppers Ranch in Guthrie, a celebration for the foster families who reside there. This past month, we visited Lions Meadows of Hope and prepared meals that will be used when welcome foster children into their community.
We want to impact the college experiences of Cowboys with experience in foster care as we serve current fostering families and the dedicated people who work with them. With your help, we can!
Your donation to FYA will be used to help us to:
Thank you for considering a gift to FYA and Go Pokes!
This amount will help FYA members travel to an off-site service project with a community agency in our area. We volunteer with foster care and child service agencies to support the great work they do!
Former foster youth are considered a "hidden population" on college campuses. This donation amount will help FYA purchase promotional materials to get the word out to our Cowboys with experience in foster care that there's a place for them in our organization!
FYA likes to provide meals in our meetings whenever possible. Not only is community built around a shared meal, but it also helps meet a physical/felt need for our members. This donation amount will help us order a group meal for an FYA meeting
FYA members are eager to learn from others about how to best support their fellow students with experience in foster care. This learning can occur through conference attendance, meeting with experts in our area, reading together, and more. This donation amount will allow us to pay for educational materials for our members so that we can better understand and serve members of the Cowboy community who identify as former foster youth.
FYA has to cooked meals that can be frozen and later provided to fostering families through Lions Meadows of Hope when a new foster child joins a family. We are eager to continue to do this and other events to promote positive experiences for current foster youth. This donation amount will allow us to run more events and projects, providing our members with opportunities to lead and give back.