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Alfred G. Perez, 24, believes it’s a myth that foster kids can’tmake it. But he also knows they can’t do it alone. Perez livedin 11 different foster homes in as many years before he leftthe California foster care system.

“When I turned 18, I had to do everything on my own,” hesaid. With the assistance of an independent living programand the support of a mentor, Perez went on to earn a bache-lor’s degree in social work from San Jose State and a master’sdegree from the University of Michigan. He now works as aresearch analyst at Westat, Inc., a prestigious research andevaluation firm in Rockville, Maryland.

Myeshia Grice, a 24-year-old senior at California State atHayward and the first in her family to attend college, isanother success story. Grice met her mentor, Arlene, whenshe was 15 and in foster care, and she said Arlene’s steadfastbelief in her is what persuaded her to go to college.

Perez and Grice made the transition from foster care toadulthood with the help of caring individuals. But studiesshow many young people like them face overwhelmingobstacles completing their education, getting good jobs, andfinding safe, affordable places to live. Too often, foster care“graduates” end up unemployed, homeless, or in jail. TheFoster Care Independence Act of 1999 gave states some newfunds to support transition programs, but too often theseteenagers are not a state or local priority.

To reverse that trend, in May the Casey Foundation andCasey Family Programs launched the Jim Casey Youth

Opportunities Initiative, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedi-cated to improving the lives of the more than 100,000 youngpeople in the United States between the ages of 16 and 21who are about to leave or have already left the foster care sys-tem. The Foundation has committed $18 million over thenext three years to address the educational, employment,health, and housing needs of this group of young adults. Theinitiative grew out of studies and collaboration between thetwo founding partners dating back to 1997. “Transition forfoster youth has never been approached as comprehensivelyand ambitiously as this new joint undertaking,” said DouglasW. Nelson, president of the Casey Foundation. “We expectto be a change agent, a facilitator, and promoter of successfulprograms that can be duplicated throughout the country.”

Gary Stangler, former head of the Missouri Department ofSocial Services, will direct the initiative from headquarteroffices in St. Louis. Part of his job will be to act as a convener,

INIT IAT IVE AIMS TO EASE THE PAIN OF TRANSIT ION FROM FOSTER CARE

IN THIS ISSUE: Chronicling the Legacy of One Family’s Transformation; Alert forCommunity Organizations; Strategic Consulting Group Offers Hands-On Help;A Note of Recognition; INSITES

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T r a n s i t i o n f o r f o s t e r y o u t h H A S N E V E R B E E N A P P R O A C H E D a s

COMPREHENSIVELY and ambi t ious ly as in th i s new jo in t under tak ing.

Alfred G. Perez made the transition from foster care with a mentor’s help.

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When a promising young man was shotdown two blocks from his home atthe Henry Horner Housing Project inChicago, he left a powerful legacy forhis family and his community.

Terrell Collins, 14, was a straight-Astudent with a scholarship to a privatehigh school. Everyone believed hewould make it out of the projects andbecome successful. His death trans-formed the lives of family members,fueling their struggle to circumventthe cycle of poverty, welfare, violence,and substance abuse that robbed somany in their community of theirhopes, dreams, and dignity.

Tod Lending, an award-winning pro-ducer who was filming a documentary inTerrell’s neighborhood, interviewed his

grandmother, Dorothy Jackson, just afew hours before Terrell’s death. Hedecided, with their permission, to con-tinue filming the family for an extendedtime to see how Terrell’s death wouldaffect their lives. The result of their five-year collaboration is Legacy, a powerfulchronicle of the family’s transformationand the social factors that both impededand aided them in their ultimately tri-umphant path. So compelling is thisdepiction that the film earned an Oscarnomination this year. Legacy aired onHBO July 25, and is scheduled to debuton PBS stations in 2002.

The story is told through the voice ofNickole, Terrell’s cousin and best friend,who went on to become the first mem-ber of the family to graduate from highschool and attend college. But it also

CASEY CONNECTSSummer 2001

A quarterly newsletter published by The Annie E. Casey Foundation701 St. Paul Street

Baltimore, MD 21202

Phone: 410.547.6600

Fax: 410.547.6624

www.aecf.org

Kent C. NelsonChairman

Douglas W. NelsonPresident

Ralph SmithVice President

Stanley N. WellbornDirector of External Affairs

Joy Thomas MooreManager of Grantee Relations

Deborah L. CohenEditor

Susan Middaugh, Peter SlavinContributing Writers

© 2001, The Annie E. Casey Foundation,Baltimore, Maryland

The Casey Foundation is a privatecharitable organization dedicated to helpingbuild better futures for disadvantaged chil-dren in the United States. The primarymission of the Foundation is to foster publicpolicies, human-service reforms, and com-munity supports that more effectively meetthe needs of today’s vulnerable childrenand families. In pursuit of this goal, theFoundation makes grants that help states,cities, and neighborhoods fashion moreinnovative, cost-effective responses tothese needs.

I t ’s n ice to f i na l l y see a mov ie T H AT D O E S N ’ T M A K E

B L A C K P E O P L E L O O K B A D . I t s h o w s t h e t r u t h a b o u t

wha t we rea l l y do and go th rough.

SHAR ING THE L EGACY OF ONE FAM I LY ’ STRANSFORMAT ION

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details the trials and triumphs of Terrell’sgrandmother, who eventually realizesher dream to leave the projects and buya home; of his mother, a long-timesubstance abuser who finally entersrehab and enjoys the fruits of recovery;and of his aunt, Nickole’s mother, a sin-gle mother of five who eventually getsoff welfare and finds steady employmentand educational opportunities. Jack,Terrell’s surviving brother, is shown stillstruggling to move his life in a positivedirection.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation, alongwith the John D. and Catherine T.MacArthur Foundation, the W. K.Kellogg Foundation, and other grantmakers, supported the filming as well asa wide range of outreach activities tohelp share the legacy of this family witha broader audience. The Foundation hassupported a number of events and edu-cational materials designed to help peo-ple in the education, faith, civic, andnonprofit sectors translate the film intoa tool to help families and communitiesconnect to sources of help, hope, andopportunity. Legacy has been screenedin nearly 1,000 community settings tomore than a half million people sinceit was completed in 1999.

Last fall, the Laurence G. PaquinSecondary School in Baltimore, analternative school for expectant andparenting teenagers, aired the film forits 300-member student body. “I toldthem we’re going to see a family justlike them, and that they need to learnthat no matter how bad your circum-stances, you can survive,” said theschool’s director, Dr. Rosetta Stith.

What she didn’t tell her students wasthat members of the Collins family werebehind the curtain, waiting to greet stu-dents after the screening. “When Ipulled that screen up, it was almost likethey stopped breathing— it was likethey had seen a miracle,” Stith said.

“They stood up and gave a standingovation.”

Students asked questions, spoke one-on-one with the family, and wrotenotes to the various family members.

“It’s nice to finally see a movie thatdoesn’t make black people look bad,”one student wrote. “It shows the truth

about what we really do and go through.It’s also nice to see a black family sticktogether through thick and thin.”

Stacy Copes, a 15-year-old with an 8-month-old daughter, said the movieinspired her to try harder to achieve hergoals. What is the most forceful lessonshe took from Legacy? “Don’t let any-thing hold you down—just keep trying.”

HELP SOUGHT FROM COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

Community organizations can be a lifeline for families living in challenging neigh-borhoods. Besides providing services people depend on, they are part of the social fab-ric of neighborhoods and lend stability to isolated communities. Their own stability,however, is too often threatened by high turnover rates in leadership.

The Casey Foundation has committed funding to explore the impact and opportuni-ties presented by leadership transitions in community-based organizations. The ulti-mate goals of this work are to help organizations prepare for and manage changes inleadership and to improve the preparation, recruitment, support, and retention ofeffective leaders.

The Foundation has commissioned a survey of community-based organizationgrantees to learn more about their experiences and needs in the area of leadershiptransitions. Selected grantees will receive letters and postcards explaining the survey,which can be completed by visiting a special website, www.managance.com/casey-survey, between July 30 and August 20. Organizations that do not have Internetaccess should contact Melody Thomas-Scott of Tom Adams and Associates at410.439.6635 to schedule a telephone interview. The Foundation will publish itsfindings in mid-September.

Bottom left photo, from left to right, Terrell Collins’ aunt, Alaissa; mother, Wanda; cousin, Nickole;brother, Jack; and filmmaker Tod Lending. The family spoke with students at the Paquin school,above, after a Legacy screening.

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Fixing broken human-service agencies is one of the mostvexing challenges facing cities and states, but that has neverstopped the Casey Foundation from venturing into the fray.The principles on which the Foundation bases much of itswork on behalf of children mandate that public systems beresponsive, efficient, and customer driven.

For better or worse, one of the most promising opportunitiesfor change presents itself in the wake of a crisis. Building ona long legacy of work to help change the way public systemsoperate in order to improve outcomes for children, the CaseyFoundation has launched a new enterprise to provide imme-diate intensive, strategic help when these moments of oppor-tunity arise.

The Casey Strategic Consulting Group will respond to pub-lic agencies seeking outside intervention that is experienced,neutral, analytically oriented, and hands-on.

“Real change in public agencies requires them to value fami-lies and encourage family ties, to identify and use communi-ty resources, and to involve parents and children in planningfor the future,” said Kathleen Feely, managing director of thegroup. “These agencies must build community partnershipsthat encourage local participation, decentralized decision-making, and flexible funding to address communities’unique needs. That is what Casey Strategic Consultinghopes to bring to agencies in distress.”

Entry points for this process may include systems in crisis inthe aftermath of a highly visible tragedy, such as the deathof a child. Public sector agencies facing the threat of class-action litigation or having recently come under new politicalleadership may offer another window of opportunity forreform efforts.

The Casey Strategic Consulting Group will build on theFoundation’s recent involvement with the Special ChildWelfare Advisory Panel in New York City, which stemmedfrom efforts to mediate a class-action lawsuit against theAdministration for Children’s Services, known as Marisol v.Scoppetta. The group has modeled itself after such private-sector consultants as McKinsey & Company and seeks outopportunities within states or localities that show great

promise for reform and willingness to commit to intensiveintervention to meet their goals.

Feely, a former deputy commissioner of New York City’sDepartment of Juvenile Justice, has assembled a multi-faceted team. Gary Weeks, former director of Oregon’sDepartment of Human Services, has been named manager ofhuman services reform. The staff also includes Jim Dimas,Kathleen Noonan, Joy Behrens, and John Musewicz, whooffer a distinct mix of public sector, research, legal, and pri-vate sector consulting experience.

Currently, Casey Strategic Consulting is active in one start-up site and reviewing the possibility of new work in a fewother sites. In Georgia, the involvement was triggered in late1999 by publicity surrounding deaths of children in the fos-ter care system in Atlanta and subsequent dialog betweenFoundation officials and the governor’s office. The group isworking with the Foundation’s Technical Assistance ResourceCenter to assist in data collection and other reform tasks toincrease the momentum of the change effort.

The Casey Strategic Consulting Group is working with thegovernor’s cross-agency partnership to improve state childwelfare outcomes by developing a comprehensive community-based system to connect children and families with criticalservices and supports in their communities.

The group is also building a network of key resource peopleat national organizations and institutions.

STRATEG IC CONSULT ING GROUP P ROV IDES HANDS -ON HE L P TO PUB L IC AGENC I ES

From left to right, Jim Dimas, a member of the Casey StrategicConsulting team, meeting with Becky Winslow, Eddie Gordon, andWilfred Hamm of the Georgia Division of Family and Children’sServices.

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A well-organized youth-led movementin California has been gaining momen-tum in an impassioned struggle to pro-mote alternatives to juvenile detention.

Two groups that the Casey Foundationsupports— the Ella Baker Center forHuman Rights in San Francisco and theOakland-based Youth EmpowermentCenter, an umbrella group that sponsorsseveral youth organizations—have beenworking to challenge Alameda County’splans to construct the largest juvenilehall in the country.

Books Not Bars, a project of the EllaBaker Center, and the Youth ForceCoalition, one of the organizationssponsored by the Youth EmpowermentCenter, have been lead partners in awide range of groups joining forces to“Stop the Super Jail.”

Young people and their allies showedup in force at a Board of Correctionsmeeting in San Diego last May and con-vinced the Board not to provide $2.3million in requested state funding for amajor expansion of the county’s juvenilehall. “We told them that the state

should be spending more money to keepkids out of jails, not spending millionsof dollars to put more youth in jail,”said Adam Gold, executive director ofthe Youth Empowerment Center.

Books Not Bars and the Youth ForceCoalition were also planning a July 28concert and rally, including communityleaders, poets, dancers, and Hip Hopartists, to speak out against the county’splans to borrow money to finance thefacility without a public vote.

REBU I LD ING COMMUNI T I E S ’NOTAB LE W INSFE L LOWSH I P

Maggie DeSantis, executive directorof the Warren/Conner DevelopmentCoalition in Detroit, has been selected asa Fellow in the Rockefeller Foundation’sNext Generation Leadership program.Warren/Conner is the lead organizationin the Casey Foundation’s RebuildingCommunities Initiative (RCI) in Detroit.

DeSantis is one of 24 candidates selectedfrom more than 100 applicants nomi-nated by national leaders. The two-yearprogram is designed to build a networkof leaders who can identify solutionsto social, economic, and technologicaldisparities that threaten democracy. Inthe first year, Fellows will travel exten-sively to study challenges to democracyrelating to race, economics, immigra-tion, globalization, and communication.In the second year, they will work oncommunity projects that put theories ofdemocracy into action.

DeSantis wants to study a topic nearand dear to her RCI work— the role ofcommunity development in revitalizing“the most devastated large city in theUnited States.”

YOUTH - L ED MOVEMENT CAMPA IGNS FORBOOKS NOT BARS ’

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Young people helped convince the CaliforniaBoard of Corrections not to fund a majorexpansion of Alameda County’s juvenile hall.

A NOTE OF RECOGNITION

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The Annie E. Casey Foundation

701 St. Paul Street

Baltimore, Maryland 21202

Phone: 410.547.6600

Fax: 410.547.6624

www.aecf.org

“Over the last 20 years, Maggie hasdemonstrated significant leadership instrengthening Detroit’s local communitydevelopment practice,” said GarlandYates, manager of RCI. “Under her guid-ance the Warren/Conner DevelopmentCoalition is recognized across the countryfor its innovative work.”

BR IDGEPORTACT IV I S TS HA I L EDFOR P ROTECT INGCH I LDREN ’S INTERES TS

Two grassroots community activists havewon “Liberty Bell Awards”—an honorbestowed every year by the BridgeportBar Association.

The awards were presented to mark“Law Day”—a day set aside May 1 forAmericans to reflect on how laws makepossible the freedoms we enjoy. Thisyear, the theme for Law Day was pro-tecting the best interests of children.

Margie Powell and Marta Calderonboth hold leadership positions in ParentEducation and Resident Leadership(PEARL), a parent-run nonprofit groupthat collaborates with others to provide

parent education and training in advocacyand community organizing. PEARL is aspin-off from work done in Bridgeportunder the Casey Foundation’s NewFutures Initiative.

Calderon says her activism began whenshe got involved with Bridgeport Futuresin 1992, which propelled her ontomany boards and councils focused onchild advocacy. “It is important to beout there to fight for children,” saidCalderon, who doesn’t own a car andtakes public transportation to work andcommunity meetings.

Powell has worked hard to advocate formore funding for school readiness andcontinued support for at-risk children inthe early grades. PEARL’s emphasis is“informing parents of what’s out thereand how they can get involved and notbe intimidated,” said Powell, who hastwo grown sons and four grandchildren,has adopted three foster children, and isin the process of adopting a fourth.

“These two women are being recognizedfor their persistence in helping to keeppolicymakers’ hearts and minds staywhere they should be with regard tochildren,” said Carmen Lopez, aConnecticut Superior Court Judge.

innovator, and gatherer of critical datathat can be used to help shape publicpolicy at the local, state, and nationallevels. “We want to transform the waycommunities view their responsibility toyouth who have been removed fromtheir families and placed in foster care,”he said.

The initiative will support statewide andcommunity-based efforts through grants,technical assistance, and coalition build-ing. It will also help child welfare agen-cies and private organizations share bestpractices.

The Jim Casey Initiative has pilot initia-tives for foster care teens in St. Louis,Indianapolis, Kansas City, Nashville, andAtlanta. Stangler expects the initiativeto make grants in 15–20 states over thenext three years and to operate in everystate within five years.

Ruth Massinga, president and chief exec-utive officer of Casey Family Programs,believes young people who have been infoster care should have a voice in every-thing from program design and evalua-tion to the allocation of resources. “Aswith any enterprise, you need to under-stand your customers and what theirneeds are,” she said.

For more information, go to www.jimcaseyyouth.org.

TRANSITION

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Left, Maggie DeSantis was named a Fellowin the Next Generation Leadership pro-gram; Margie Powell receives a LibertyBell Award and is congratulated by JudgeCarmen Lopez.

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