[From Our Partners] Programs for Foster Youth Transitioning to Adulthood (FYTA) Mid-Evaluation
This report provides a progress update on the first two years of Action Research’s independent evaluation of two programs serving foster youth transitioning to adulthood (FYTA), which was funded beginning in April 2019 by the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII) of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office (DANY) in New York City (NYC), with guidance from the CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance.
Every year an estimated 600 young adults, of whom over 80 percent are youth of color, exit NYC foster care without a legal permanent family arrangement on the basis of age. The programs evaluated, Graham Windham’s Graham SLAM (Support, Lead, Achieve, Model) and The Door’s Bronx Academy and Manhattan Academy Plus (MAP), offer youth aging out of foster care in NYC personalized support through mentorship, coaching, and youth-driven service provision, respectively. This mid-evaluation report describes recent developments in the policies, programs, and context that impact FYTA in NYC, an update on evaluation activities from Years 1 and 2, mid-evaluation recommendations, and methodology modifications needed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.