What a year it has been working alongside two amazing advocates, the Nebraska Appleseed Journey to Success Fellows, Michayla & Karolina. As we wrap the Fellowship, we wanted to share some highlights with all of you!
Last year, Michayla & Karolina joined Appleseed as Journey to Success Fellows. Journey to Success is a policy advocacy campaign that seeks to improve opportunities and outcomes for youth and young adults who experience foster care by promoting their healing, family connections and economic security. Karolina & Michayla jumped right into the work and spent time developing & leading projects with the goal of reaching out to the larger community of other young people who experienced the foster care system. These projects focused on mental health access & supports for those transitioning out of foster care. You can see their summaries of these impactful projects here:
With this input from these additional voices, the Fellows joined Nebraska Appleseed staff in Washington DC, to sit down with our Nebraska Members of Congress. While we also got to have some fun exploring Washington DC and seeing the sites, we spent most of our time in meetings on the Hill discussing the needs of the foster care system with our three representatives and two senators. We discussed federal policy solutions and legislation that would bring additional mental health services, more support for obtaining driver’s licenses and much more.
We were excited to see the recent update that these priorities have been championed by some members of Congress, including Nebraska Congressman Adrian Smith and Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon. In the House of Representatives’ work to reauthorize federal funding for state child welfare systems, a bill was introduced that incorporates the expertise of young adults and families with direct experience in the foster care system. The bill, the Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act, includes priorities such as increased requirements around youth’s mental health needs, the importance of peer-to-peer mentoring, improving implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act and more!
The work to improve Nebraska’s foster care system is never done, but Michayla & Karolina made a huge impact in raising up their own experiences in the foster care system and the experiences of others. While they are done with the Fellowship, their work is not done making our Nebraska communities stronger – Michayla has joined the Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans campaign as an organizer & Karolina continues to use her advocacy skills in the community.
We thank them for their hard work and dedication! Nebraska Appleseed also wants to thank our partners, Journey to Success, for their funding and support to make this fellowship a possibility.
Stay tuned for updates on the Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act and how you can get more involved!