OUR MISSION
Our mission is simple – Empowering foster youth to
become the heroes of their own lives.
Through programs such as Cowboy Camp, Launchpad ID Hub Program, Hero Journey Programs and the Everyday Heroes Employment Program, our amazing volunteers pour into teen foster youth the beliefs, skills, love and encouragement needed to help a foster teen navigate the world as they ready to age out of the system.
This isn’t about us. This is about creating futures for the foster youth we serve!
THE ROADMAP OF How We Serve Foster YOUTH
COWBOY
CAMP
Whether it’s the boys from Tombstone, Roy Rogers or John Wayne, there is just something amazing about cowboys and their way of life. Tough; but, character driven – focused on doing what’s right drives the true cowboy.
What better way to pour into our foster youth than giving them the experience to be a hero cowboy for a day. Our wonderful partners, Western Destinations, proudly support foster youth by providing an amazing cowboy camp experience that profoundly and positively impacts the foster youth that get to be cowboy/cowgirl heroes for a day. With a goal of reaching 400 foster youth per year, the team of awesome volunteers from Fostering Heroes Foundation, the staff and ranch hands of the Western Destinations ‘Flying E Ranch’ and the donors to FHF provide an experience that is once in a lifetime for a foster youth.
From horse back trail rides, side-by-side rides and campfire talks, you have a chance to impact a foster youth for the rest of their lives. We’ve seen it and we know the impact this amazing event has on their lives (and will have on your life too).
Cowboy Camp provides the FHF staff and volunteers the opportunity to build trust with the foster youth and the group home staff providing an important step in delivering other live changing services to the foster youth we are so laser focused on.
LAUNCHPAD ID
HUB PROGRAM
We’ve seen the brokenness in the foster care system first hand. As much as DCS can provide assistance to foster youth throughout Arizona, there just aren’t enough resources to provide an opportunity to a better life for many foster youth leaving the system.
With so many organizations in Arizona wanting to help foster youth in the aging out process, we have found that these organizations are like ships passing in the night. These organizations are not coordinated in their efforts to assist foster youth with their various services.
Our Launchpad ID program is developed to bring the many resources available throughout Arizona into one easily accessible point for foster youth. The Launchpad ID card is provided to foster youth aging out of the system to help streamline access to the many wonderful non-profits throughout Arizona. The ID will give foster youth quicker access to resources available to them by speeding up the referral process.
EVERYDAY HEROES
EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM
Did you know that more than 50% of foster youth leaving the system will become homeless, enter the sex trade, turn to drugs, enter the prison system or die?
Did you also know that less than 50% of foster youth will complete high school? The high school dropout rate for foster youth is 3x that of low income children. Over 40% of foster youth have educational difficulties.
We know these are staggering numbers. Our goal is to provide foster youth with employment opportunities when they transition out of the system. How we accomplish this is through mentorship with youth while in group homes and partnerships with trades organizations needing workers that have a heart for foster youth.
We have to be honest, this program is hard. Connecting mentors and preparing under-served youth with opportunities to further their lives is not easy. It is only through the power, will, determination and love of our mentors, trades partners and donors that we can proactively change the trajectory of a foster youth’s life.
