Upbring Community Engagement VISTA_Teleservice -Y1

Americorps • Austin, TX

235d

About The Position

Upbring's mission is to break the cycle of child abuse by empower children, families, and communities. Upbring is a non-profit organization with extensive operations throughout the state of Texas, providing an array of services for children and their families. The children served by Upbring's programs are either from low-income families or at-risk of experiencing poverty. Upbring provides therapeutic foster care services for children in foster care; supported independent living services for young adults aging out of foster care; emergency shelter programs for unaccompanied refugee minors; and Head Start/Early Head Start programs for pre-k children who are in foster care, homeless, or from families with low-income or receiving public assistance. Youth aging out of foster care without the guidance and support given by adoptive or foster parents encounter far more difficulties adjusting to adult life than their peers, and many experience homelessness and poverty. Upbring's Foster in Texas program is contracted by Texas DFPS to license and monitor foster/adoptive/kinship homes so that children needing foster care services are afforded a safe and stable placement until permanency is achieved. The Foster in Texas therapeutic foster care program is involved in 14 communities across the state. In 2014, the agency launched our BeREAL Supervised Independent Living programs for young adults aging out of foster care in Austin, San Marcos, and San Antonio, Texas with the goal of empowering young adults who have aged out of Texas's foster care system to acquire the life-skills, education, and employment experience necessary to successfully transition into healthy, productive, and self-sufficient adults. The Community Engagement AmeriCorps VISTA member serving with Upbring will increase new partnerships to expand access to resources for program participants.