Jim Casey Initiative Names Young Fellows From 12 States

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion recent­ly named 12 new Jim Casey Young Fel­lows, who are trained in lead­er­ship and advo­ca­cy skills to help inform the philanthropy’s nation­wide efforts to improve out­comes for youth tran­si­tion­ing from fos­ter care to adult­hood. Work­ing with the Jim Casey Youth Oppor­tu­ni­ties Ini­tia­tive, Young Fel­lows play an inte­gral role in devel­op­ing strate­gies and rec­om­men­da­tions for improv­ing child wel­fare systems.

The fol­low­ing are the newest Jim Casey Young Fel­lows with his or her areas of interest:

• Rochelle Alvara­do (New Mex­i­co): Per­ma­nence, build­ing social cap­i­tal, sib­ling rights
• Tam­my Arias (North Car­oli­na): Art ther­a­py for youth aging out of fos­ter care, youth development
• Hai­ley Brooks (Ten­nessee): Post­sec­ondary edu­ca­tion, chang­ing stereotypes
• Aman­da­lyn Brunelle (Con­necti­cut): Qual­i­ty of fos­ter par­ents, sib­ling vis­i­ta­tion rights, improv­ing men­tal health and coun­sel­ing services
• Rebec­ca Daugh­er­ty (Nebras­ka): Rep­re­sen­ta­tion of youth in domes­tic vio­lence cas­es, improv­ing youth-advo­cate con­nec­tions, advo­cat­ing for chil­dren who have spe­cial needs
• Patri­cia Duh (Hawaii): Sib­ling vis­i­ta­tion rights, nor­mal­cy for youth in fos­ter care
• Nyee­lah Inniss (Geor­gia): Post­sec­ondary edu­ca­tion, nor­mal­cy for youth in fos­ter care
• Malik Jones (Mary­land): Moti­vat­ing and guid­ing youth to over­come peer pres­sure and neg­a­tive influ­ences to achieve their goals
• Miran­da Mizla (Michi­gan): Les­bian, gay, bisex­u­al, trans­gen­der and ques­tion­ing (LGBTQ) youth issues, the use of psy­chotrop­ic med­ica­tions for youth in fos­ter care
• Amber Mun­son (Maine): LGBTQ youth issues, post­sec­ondary education
• Ash­ley Pacheco (Ari­zona): Per­ma­nence, authen­tic youth engage­ment, pre­ven­tion services
• Maryana Stern (Penn­syl­va­nia): LGBTQ youth issues, per­ma­nence, post­sec­ondary edu­ca­tion, old­er youth adoption