Child Advocates of Fort Bend received two Local Community Grant awards from area Walmart Stores supporting the CASA WINGS program. Walmart Store #4111 in Fulshear awarded $1,500 and Walmart Store #546 located at 5330 FM 1640 Road in Richmond gifted $500 toward the educational needs of youth in foster care who participate in the WINGS LifeSkills, Campus Crawl and Education programs.
Many teenage children in foster care will likely remain in care until age 18 when they “age-out.” For the majority of these children, they have not been provided with training and tools to be successful when they “age out” and no longer have the support of state resources. To equip these youth to be successful, Child Advocates of Fort Bend has developed a unique program called “WINGS” which addresses a variety of critical needs and skills that youth have reported that they were lacking. For teenagers ages 14 – 18 years old while in state care, Child Advocates of Fort Bend provides interactive “hands-on” training in life skills including how to rent an apartment, how to open a checking account, how to navigate public transportation, how to obtain a drivers license, how to buy or lease a car, how to prepare for college, how to complete financial aid applications, how to manage their health care, and what resources are available to them as part of the state’s foster alumni resource program. WINGS Campus Crawl takes youth out to colleges, vocational schools, technical schools and universities across the state and introduces them to higher education, which many foster youth have not considered. The WINGS program has transformed the lives of hundreds of foster youth in Fort Bend over the past decade since it was developed in 2010. Today, every senior high school student in Fort Bend County who participates in WINGS has graduated from high school, all are pursuing higher education, military or career, and WINGS alumni are college graduates and law school student. The WINGS Program has received the attention of the state CASA network as well as the national CASA network in its impact on youth in our community.
The Walmart Community Grants will support youth who are pursuing higher education in college or trade school. CAFB is grateful to Walmart for being a local community supporter and recognizing that the services that we provide today to transform the lives of children and strengthen families is an opportunity to break the cycle of abuse for future generations.
About Child Advocates of Fort Bend:
Child Advocates of Fort Bend is a non-profit agency serving children who have been abused or neglected through a variety of services and advocacy by strengthening the voice of a child, healing the hurt and breaking the cycle of child abuse in Fort Bend County. Through its Court Appointed Special Advocates Program (CASATM), Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) and more than 200 trained community volunteer advocates, Child Advocates improves the lives of more than 400 children each month and has served nearly 19,000 children since opening its doors in 1991.
Volunteers are needed to help in the office and Children’s Advocacy Center and help with special events. For more information on how you can get involved with Child Advocates of Fort Bend, contact Volunteer Services at 281-344-5123 or jbrown@cafb.org or log onto www.cafb.org.