Alameda County Foster Youth Association

The Alameda County Foster Youth Alliance Bulletin

Weekly Bulletin — 11/15/07

Visit us on the Web at www.fosteryouthalliance.org!

(If the bulletin displays poorly, view it on our website at www.fosteryouthalliance.org/bulletins/)

To submit an announcement to the FYA Weekly Bulletin, email bulletins@fosteryouthalliance.org. Announcements received by Wednesday morning will be included in the Thursday Bulletin.

If you cannot view this bulletin clearly, click here to read it at http://www.acfya.org/bulletin/index.htm

FYA News & Events

Policy Briefings

Opportunities for Youth

Mental Health

Fundraiser for ILSP "Club Interact"

Trainings

Media Coverage of Foster Care

fya nEWS & eVENTS

Special FYA Meeting TOMORROW, November 16th

Please note the change to the regular agenda:

9:30 – 10:00 Networking and information sharing

10:00 – 11:30 Mental Health Services Act focus group

Space for the focus group is limited! Please RSVP!

FYA will be hosting a mental health focus group for Behavioral Health Care Services so that FYA members can provide input into the county's mental health services act planning for prevention and early intervention strategies for transition age youth. The meeting will take place at the ILSP office, 2647 International Blvd., Suite 312, Oakland. Since space is limited, please limit one person per agency to the focus group. RSVP for the focus group to jlangs(at)fosteryouthalliance.org

Happy Thanksgiving! Next FYA Bulletin will be Thursday, November 29th.

Policy Briefings

Philanthropy and Child Welfare Reform Briefing TOMORROW

There is still space available at tomorrow's Child Welfare Policy Briefing hosted by the John Burton Foundation: Philanthropy and Child Welfare Reform: Which Came First-- the Chicken or the Egg? Private foundations have long been the catalyst for innovations in the child welfare system, both in California and nationally. How do demonstration projects become the official practice of child welfare systems? What is the history of this relationship and how is it evolving nationally and in California? How do advocates of philanthropic investment respond to the charge that private funding lets public systems "off the hook?" Join us as Senior Program Officer Teri Kook of the Stuart Foundation addresses these questions and briefs us on philanthropy's latest efforts to promote change in foster care nationally.

The briefing will be held in the Koshland Conference Room at the San Francisco Foundation at 225 Bush Street, Suite 500 from 12:00 to 2:00 tomorrow, November 16th. Lunch is provided. To rsvp, contact Amy Lemley at 415-693-1322 or amy(at)johnburtonfoundation.org.

Opportunities for Youth

RightToLearn has launched! Check it out at www.RightToLearnCA.org.

A new initiative called RightToLearn, "Our Schools, Our Stories, Our Solutions" has issued a call to action to students. YouthNoise is providing a platform and resources for students to advocate for education reform in California.

Students are invited to submit their stories about how schools must change in order for them to succeed. Students can submit stories in video, audio, text, or mobile (from their cell phone) right now! They are telling the Governor, state and local politicians, the media, and their peers what resources their schools most need for them to graduate ready for college and life.

Teachers and youth workers that want to help students engage in their RightToLearn will receive incentives (video cameras, webcams, stickers, buttons). They will also be eligible for funding for youth driven school improvement projects and advocacy for statewide reform.

Youth submitting the most compelling stories will win a laptop and a trip to meet with politicians in Sacramento. YouthNoise expects to engage thousands of youth across the State by December 15th and present it to California by the Governor's announcement of the Year of Education in 2008.

Please join and help your friends, students, and colleagues join now! They can contact Brian@youthnoise.org or (415) 593-2531 for incentives and to learn more about how they can engage students in making their schools work better for everyone with RightToLearn.

Click here to check out an article about the launch of the site.

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Pivotal Point Orientation for Vocational Skills and Employment Training

The Orientation will be held:
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
4:30PM
@ Pivotal Point Youth Services
2647 International Blvd., Suite 320
Oakland
510.536.6604 x 201

Click here for a flyer.

Mental Health

Pool of Consumer Champions

Alameda County Behavioral Health Care is seeking youth to join the Pool of Consumer Champions. The purpose of the Pool of Consumer Champions is to help individuals with mental health issues have a meaningful life and to improve the mental health system from a consumer perspective.

To join the Pool of Champions a person has to fill-out an application and attend an orientation. The applications will be given out at the orientation.

An orientation meeting will be held Tuesday, November 20, 2007, at the Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Vocational Services, located at 333 Hegenberger Rd., 6th floor, in Oakland. The orientation is between 1-3pm. To sign a youth up for this orientation, or if you have any questions about the Pool of Champions, please contact Sabirah Mustafa at 510-639-1338.

Fundraiser for ILSP "Club Interact"

The Sunshine Rotary Club sponsors "Club Interact" with ILSP. Youth are taught public speaking and other social skills. Last year two foster youth from ILSP who won speech contests at the local level were able to go to Ghana, West Africa to participate in an international speech contest. Sunshine Rotary paid for this trip.Through an arrangement with Hooper's Chocolates during the holiday season the company is offering discount prices on chocolates and a portion of the proceed will go to the Club Interact program. Click here for the promotional discount coupon. We are encouraging anyone who likes chocolate to double your joy with buying chocolate at a discount and help our foster youth.

Trainings

Seneca Center in partnership with Chabot Las Positas Community College District and Alameda County is proud to present:

Working with Youth as Part of a Family System:
Introduction to Brief Strategic Family Therapy
Presented by Olga Hervis

Friday, December 7th, 2007 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM

Oakland Professional Development and Conference Center
In the Transpacific Centre
1000 Broadway, Suite 109
Oakland, CA 94607

For more information on this training, click here.

Also presented by Seneca Center with Chabot Las Positas Community College District and Alameda County::

The Management Training Series

Presented by
Diana Middleton

Monday, November 26, 2007 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Monday, December 3, 2007 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Monday, December 10, 2007 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Monday, December 17, 2007 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Zocalo Coffeehouse

645 Bancroft, San Leandro, CA 94577

For more information about this training series, click here. Also, please forward this along to anyone you think may be interested. See you at the training!

Please call (510) 317-1446, ext. 411 with any questions.

Media Coverage of Foster Care

from the San Francisco Chronicle:
Racial Bias Seen in Foster Care
By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

A coalition of youth, service providers, and community organizations, Foster Youth Alliance is dedicated to empowering foster youth as they transition to adulthood. FYA promotes a seamless system of care in Alameda County, California, through maximum coordination, strong advocacy and strategic resource development.

To submit an announcement to the FYA Weekly Bulletin
email bulletins@fosteryouthalliance.org

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