Happy Holidays iFoster members!! As 2021 winds down, we wanted to send you a summary of the progress we made during the year. While much more work remains to be done, we should all be very proud of our work to improve the lives of young people in foster care.

FAFSA season is in full swing! The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (or FAFSA) is the main hub for all college goers to apply for federal and state grants (free money) as well as public loans (borrowed money).

You might be eligible to receive $600 - $1,500, and iFoster is here to help. If you have not applied, it only takes a few minutes and iFoster will help you. If you have already applied, you should apply again. Only 17% of eligible CA foster youth have applied and no funds have been distributed yet.

All of the over 11,000 current and former California foster youth, ages 13 through 26, who have already received a free phone through the iFoster Pilot Program for Foster Youth will be upgraded with a new phone that will work on the T-Mobile 5G network. This “phone swap” started in mid-August, and will be completed by the end of October when the original Sprint network will be shut down.

It’s that time of year again! Students and parents across the country are shopping for their back-to-school needs. But when it comes to foster care and education, back-to-school checklists aren’t always that simple.