Aging UP is an inclusive community committed to empowering youth with experience in foster care to successfully transition into adulthood. We recognize that youth in foster care face significant barriers and that Black and Brown youth are disproportionately represented in the foster care system and must also contend with systemic injustices — particularly within child welfare, education, and criminal justice systems — that are rooted in racial discrimination within our country.
As a trauma-informed, strength-based organization we are proud to put our values into action to fight against racism and its many manifestations. We know that the reasons Black and Brown youth end up in foster care at higher rates are connected to the larger societal context, which creates negative impacts that often restrict their access to meaningful opportunities. Therefore, Aging UP empowers youth to connect, grow and succeed through mentoring. While our services include implicit bias training for all staff and mentors, culturally focused matching, and resources that enhance social equity, we are committed to doing more.
We are proud to contribute to a society where Black lives matter and are taking immediate actions to improve services and to be stronger allies to our Black and Brown youth, volunteers, staff, and community members. These steps include growing our leadership team and mentor recruitment within communities of color, training more on racially sensitive issues, increasing ethnic and cultural experiences for our teens, and advancing the sociopolitical development of the youth we serve.
However, we cannot do this alone. Your commitment to this effort will help us better serve our diverse community of young people. Together, we will continue to empower youth toward happy, healthy, self-sufficient futures. This has been and will continue to be our commitment as an organization.
Thank you for being part of our community.
