“I’m going to be homeless in five days.” The speaker was a young “graduate” of the Oregon Foster Care system. Her words are heard far too often from youth who have “aged out” of foster care near the end of their teen years. Historically, as young adults left the foster care system in Oregon, there were no monies, programs or services to support this difficult transition to independent living.
Powerhouse began providing services in October 2000 to help fill this void. Powerhouse provides teens with one-on-one, community-based mentoring from dedicated, caring, carefully screened and trained adult volunteer mentors. The presence of one caring adult mentor can make a difference in the successful transition to independent living by a foster youth. Mentoring has been shown to be an effective source of support for vulnerable teens.
One youth wrote this about his mentor:
Since I was about 4 years old I’ve been in foster care. I’ve moved homes more than most people (change) socks. In all those years I had few people that I could count on. (My mentor) is one of the people that I can. In fact (he) is one of the few people who I can call a true friend. (names withheld for purposes of privacy)
The mission of Powerhouse is to provide community-based mentoring to youth in foster care to enhance their successful transitions from adolescence to adulthood.
Follow Powerhouse Mentoring on Facebook
