As the biggest and busiest retail season of the year kicks in, I’m excited to tell you about one of Rhode Island’s most special shopping experiences – the Foster Forward Community Storefront. Here are seven reasons why it’s a wonder for foster families and the youth in their care…

ONE Neighborhood Builders (ONE|NB) recently purchased three contiguous vacant and blighted properties - for a total acquisition of 2.95 acres of land - on Taunton Avenue in East Providence and will transform the site into a mixed-income residential community, featuring 160 new apartments and plentiful amenities.

Did you know that Hispanic, Black and LGBTQ+ youth are overrepresented AND underserved in foster care?

It's true. These youth and young people remain in foster care longer, are adopted less frequently, and must overcome discrimination, trauma, and other foster care hurdles to find success.

It’s so exciting when an individual we have served makes time to connect with us. We are thrilled to bring you this conversation with Denisse Perez, an alumna client of ours who went from living in a group home with her two year old daughter to becoming a registered nurse and living in her own home.

Do you remember when you were just starting out? Leaving home? Going to college? Or starting a new job? Moving into an apartment? Many of us have people we can turn to - family, friends, mentors - to help us out. That is not always the case for foster youth.

Do you know about our Community Storefront location?

Foster youth and families can shop at the Community Storefront for donated materials, like new and gently used clothing, toys, and other household essentials...for free.

We fill its 4000 square foot space month after month with regular donations from individuals, families, businesses, and partners, and fill in the gaps with our own funds when necessary.

We are thrilled to introduce our Second Home Loyalty Program! Many foster youth and families share that our office, our people, our volunteers and community are like a “second home” to them after being shuffled from house to house and/or experiencing homelessness.

When a former foster youth experiencing homelessness is referred to us, we immediately start combing through rent advertisements and contacting landlords. It’s not a simple process. Rent is notoriously high in Rhode Island and housing supply is low (that’s a topic for another time). 

When we DO find a safe apartment for our young people, we start going through our food pantry and perusing our community Storefront to pull together all the necessities of moving into a first apartment.  

We did it! We bought a house! And, we're this much closer to realizing our dream of offering safe, affordable, and clean housing to the foster youth that we serve.

March 4, 2021 marked one year since Melissa Marcello and her husband, Matthew, adopted Genesis (Genny) after serving as her foster parents for 513 days. The average time a child spends in foster care is at least two years - 730 days. Melissa considers Genny one of the lucky ones.

In the last three years, the partnership between Dynamic Bicycles and Foster Forward has grown, as has their bike donation program. Three years ago, around 15 bikes were donated to Foster Forward. This past year in the fall of 2020, Patrick's team donated 55 bikes for foster youth. 

Foster children and youth often bounce from home to home, school to school, and have met with many case workers over their time in care. They've repeated their stories, some filled with serious trauma, over and over again to a series of adults in what can be many years. All of this shuffling can generate feelings of being cast aside, forgotten, and powerless in foster youth.