The University of Wisconsin system is expanding its Fostering Success program to additional campuses this fall to help students who have been in foster care, homeless or orphaned achieve their goals of completing secondary education, according to the Fostering Success website.
The program, which began at UW-Stout, will now also support students at UW-LaCrosse, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Whitewater, UW-River Falls and UW-Eau Claire, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
Fostering Success launched in 2013 in an effort to provide additional support to these underrepresented students who had experience in foster care, according to Fostering Success Advisor Gail Mentzel.
The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 was put in place to improve education outcomes for children in foster care but once outside the system, these children are at a disadvantage. There are programs in place around the U.S. that aid these students in achieving post-secondary degrees, but they are often unbeknownst to students who qualify.
According to Mentzel, Fostering Success students are committed to their education but often need more support than their peers. Once students have a person of support, the program is shown to be successful.
“The students that I work with at Stout are truly extraordinary in their commitment to being in school and their ability to balance an accelerated trajectory to adulthood,” Mentzel said. “When they age out of care, they may be considered adults and are on their own without the traditional family support net some of their peers may have. To show up in my office just demonstrates a lot of hard work and determination to be in college.”
A study done by Casey Family Programs found that only about 2% of young people from foster care obtained a bachelor’s degree, in contrast to 24% of adults in the general adult population. Many students who have lived in foster care have goals to pursue a higher education but often lack the resources and support to be successful, according to Mentzel.
According to Mentzel, Fostering Success wants everyone to have an equitable opportunity for college education. The program is important not only for underrepresented students but for greater communities, too.
“This is a population in Wisconsin and across the country that we need to support to better,” Mentzel said. “We need their intellect and their passion and their innovation to make our communities and society better.”
The Fostering Success program ensures students are successful by providing support in areas beyond academics. Students are offered cooking lessons, driver’s education assistance, emergency fund assistance, summer camp advisor jobs and more, according to the Fostering Success website.
In combination, this assistance builds a community that is critical for students, according to Fostering Success lead peer mentor and peer advocate Olivia Johnston.
As a first-year student at UW-Stout, Johnston was urged to become a member of Fostering Success, but felt it wasn’t her place. After becoming familiar with the staff of the program, Johnston said she felt compelled to join.
“It was a great opportunity and I’m so glad I actually joined, given that I was a little scared at first,” Johnston said. “It made me feel comfortable and enabled me to be the student that I was in college.”
Johnston graduated from UW-Stout with a B.S. in Business Administration in spring 2021, but remains active with the program, doing volunteer work and speaking on panels about the importance of Fostering Success.
Johnston and some of her fellow Fostering Success peers spoke on a panel in February 2020, telling their stories to Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and calling for the expansion of this program.
“Gov. Evers sat and listened to the students share their experiences and how they arrived at Stout and how the program had supported their transition and ongoing retention and support at Stout,” Mentzel said. “He was very interested and very supportive of the work that we were doing at Stout and wanted to see that expanded across the state.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic, Mentzel and other members of the Fostering Success team faced concerns that the allocation of resources for the expansion of this program would be forgotten about, Mentzel said.
Despite interruptions caused by the pandemic, the 2021-23 state budget allocated $750,000 for schools within the UW System to support and offer Fostering Success, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
“What’s great about this is that our students from foster care shouldn’t all have to attend Stout to get the support they need,” Mentzel said. “Students can now choose from eight other campuses and Stout.”
Funding for the expansion of Fostering Success will allow students to attend the UW System school that best suits their needs — geographically and academically, Mentzel said.
According to Johnston, Fostering Success can be a life-changing experience for students.
“I’m excited that the experience I got to have at UW-Stout will now be universal across the UW System as it created an opportunity for [a] community that I did not have before,” Johnston said. “It really helped me all around, which I know is going to help many, many students who were in the same position I was to have a great educational path.”
