Echo Montgomery Garrett's Blog, page 5
September 19, 2012
The Power of Story to Change Things
Last Wednesday night I spoke to a graduate level class of 35 film students at Columbia University in New York City about the power of storytelling to promote social change. During the fall semester, the class will be creating a multi-media experience based on the Orange Duffel Bag Foundation (www.ODBF.org) and My Orange Duffel Bag – A Journey to Radical Change with the goal of helping more people understand what it is like to age out of the foster care system at age 18. Taught by Lance Weiler and Atley Loughridge, the course entitled “Building Storyworlds” is within the Columbia University School of the Arts Film Division, which is chaired by Ira Deutchman. ODBF’s mission is to provide life plan coaching and advocacy for homeless youths and teens aging out of foster care as well as raising community awareness about the many barriers the young people face. This connection with Columbia will make our work known to people all over the world, because the project will be accessible online.
On Saturday, I watched 21 more teenagers graduate from our 12-week coaching program. Each gave a presentation based on which of Sam’s 7 Rules for the Road meant the most to them. They shared their stories and their journeys with the 60 adults gathered to celebrate their achievements. I was reminded that everything starts with a story. Sam Bracken was willing to share his story and be vulnerable about painful things in his past. His courage has sparked hundreds of young people to do the same and to talk about their pasts as a way to open the door to their futures. I am humbled to see what the power of a story has accomplished so far.
September 18, 2012
50 States in 50 Days Tour Coming to ODBF’s Home State
September 17, 2012
Super offer and More about the BUY ONE, GIVE ONE, CHANGE A LIFE campaign
I know a lot of groups (CASA, Kiwanis, Rotary, faith-based organizations) are currently making decisions about holiday gifts for kids in foster care and other at-risk kids. Right now Sam and I are doing a BUY ONE, GIVE ONE, CHANGE A LIFE campaign for My Orange Duffel Bag – A Journey to Radical Change. For every copy of the Crown Archetype version purchased via Amazon or from your favorite local bookseller, we will donate a copy of our self-published version to Orange Duffel Bag Foundation to be distributed to at-risk kids. If your group does a buy, we will send the self-published match version to you to distribute to your chosen group of kids. Please spread the word and consider this book — especially for your teens, whose wishes often get left on the giving trees. (We’ll use the numbers from Nielsen Bookscan to let us know what the match is.)
September 3, 2012
Why Labor Day Is Just Another Day for the Invisible Homeless
Labor Day is an appropriate holiday to point out that unemployment or severe underemployment among youth formerly in foster care is topped only by those with disabilities. In some states it exceeds 60%, and I suspect based on what I heard from the kids themselves this summer that it’s actually even higher. Young people are exiting the foster care system — at age 18 in all but a handful of states — with few resources. More than 30,000 kids age out of foster care each year. Most do so without a single safe and caring adult in their lives and ill-prepared to successfully navigate the world of work. Fewer than half have their high school diplomas and yet 90% of the available jobs have that as a minimum requirement. Only 3% of all youth in care going on to college, and only 3% successfully graduate, which again limits opportunities. The U.S. Military is now severely limiting the number of soldiers it will accept who have G.E.D.s to less than 1% of those enlisted, and the Air Force won’t accept candidates with GEDs at all.
In this recent government study, the statistics on unemployment among young adults who were in foster care are truly horrifying: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/fosteremp/
This study looked at young adults ages 18-24 who had been in foster care and compared their employment records and wages earned to that of both the general population and those coming from generational poverty. No matter the comparison, in all the states that the researchers studied youth formerly in foster care often failed to find a job at all, and when they did, their earning were one-third of what their peers made at age 24.
In virtually all states, kids age out of the foster care system at age 18. At age 17 1/2 there is a meeting where they are asked to inform the state of what they intend to do once they turn 18. If they are on target educationally — still pursuing their high school diplomas or a GED or higher ed — they have the option of “signing back into care” with that state’s independent living program (ILP). Again, this is all general, because laws and rules vary from state to state. However, many state’s ILP budgets have severely cut the aid that the kids get through that program, so again the level of support varies all over the place. Plus, many kids are so sick of the system at that point that the last thing in the world that they would do is sign themselves back in. After all, they are teenagers, and they are itching for independence anyway. Few understand the benefits of signing themselves back in the system — stable housing, money for college and the like. Rarely does anyone sit down with them and tells them the consequences of signing themselves out without an achievable plan of action in place. That’s how so many of them wind up homeless, forced into prostitution, drug or alcohol addicted, or in jail. And if you sign yourself out, it’s virtually impossible to sign yourself back in, though Georgia just announced that it is now offering a six-month grace period where a young person will supposedly have an easier time with that process.
Here are some of the big issues our kids deal with:
* They age out without having proper IDs, so they cannot get jobs/register for school.
* They almost never have been able to get part-time jobs while they are in the system due to lack of access to transportation, spotty academic records, few activities on their applications, etc.
* They are at high risk for identity theft as a result of so many people having access to their information, so they age out only to find that enormous debts have been run up in their names. That limits their ability to get a job, an apartment, or a student loan.
* Girls in foster care are six times more likely to be teenage moms than their peers. Being a single mom makes it much more likely that you will spend your life in poverty, because you are struggling to find childcare and are only able to qualify for an entry level job.
* Only 3% go on to higher education, and only 3% of that number graduate from college. During college breaks, those who have managed to make it into school often wind up homeless and without food, because the dorms and cafeterias close.
* Some states still have laws on the books that criminalizes running away, so our kids often have records.
* Children in foster care are 10 times more likely to be prescribed psychotropic drugs, which again limits their employability and precludes military service, which many youth in care tend to look at as one of their main options.
These are just a few of the reasons that cause our kids to be set up for failure rather than set up for self-sufficient lives as productive members of our communities. Our teens are just like any other teenager — they want part-time jobs and internships. They want opportunities. Get involved with kids in foster care living in your community. Together we can find solutions that will help transform lives.
August 28, 2012
Foster Hope not Judgment
Imagine you are a 16-year-old girl. You’ve been in foster care since you were taken into custody by the Department of Family and Children Services when you were five-years-old when a teacher noticed severe bruising on your arms and legs. Your stepfather started molesting you at age 3, and your mother, who has developed a meth addiction, has disappeared. Your siblings were all taken into custody, too, but each of you was sent to different foster families throughout the state. You go through two failed adoptions. One of your adoptive older brother’s molests you, and you were entered the system again.
Now that you are a teenager, there are no more foster families available, because you’ve developed “anger and behavioral issues.” One of psychologists you’ve seen prescribed psychotropic drugs for you that sap your energy and make you gain weight. Now you live in a group home with five other girls. You’ve been through 38 placements, which means you’ve attended more schools than you can count. Miraculously, your GPA is a 3.0, but your high school transcripts are a mess. You are a junior, but no one has talked to you about your future. You are in survival mode. You long ago gave up any dream of participating in after-school events, because the transportation issues are too difficult to work out. Besides trying to get the money for any extras like field trips, uniforms or anything is a big hassle.
You’ve never spent the night with a friend. You can’t just go to a movie spur of the moment. You can’t get your learner’s permit, because you’re missing your official IDs. You keep asking your caseworker about helping you replace them, but it never seems to happen. But even if you had them, you don’t have anyone to teach you how to drive anyway. Still, it would be nice to have your IDs, so you could at least apply for a part-time job.
You have to do your homework at the library where there are lines for the computers, because your group home doesn’t have any computers for you to use. Sometimes you get in trouble for missing curfew, because you are trying to finish a project. College? You’ve never even thought about it, because you’re thinking about dropping out of high school.
The other girls steal from you, so you sleep with the few things you treasure under your pillow. You’ve learned to keep your mouth shut, and you try your best to be invisible. In fact, you feel invisible, forgotten, swallowed up in a ghost world that few people know exists. “Does anyone care?” you wonder.
I get really disgusted about judgments some folks have when it comes to homeless teens and older kids in foster care. In most cases, the kids themselves did nothing to precipitate being in foster care or homeless. They suffer due to the bad decisions of others. Over the last two years since I’ve been running the Orange Duffel Bag Foundation (www.ODBF.org) as its unpaid president, I’ve met hundreds of teens who have overcome more barriers than most people can even imagine. Their daily lives are filled with challenges, big and small. The example I’ve given above is a composite of the many kids I’ve worked with in order to protect privacy.
What got me so angry last week was a post on another Facebook friend’s page wondering if “knowing they could never get any more welfare if they didn’t graduate high school would motivate kids.” I felt my blood boil as I read her words. It’s easy to pass judgment if you’ve never taken the time to get to know our kids.
Here’s what I wrote in response: “I work with at-risk kids — kids in foster care, who get passed from county to county, whose transcripts are a mess, who have no adults to advocate for them, who face all kinds of barriers. I can assure you that being on welfare is not what these kids want. They want a chance just like everyone else. They are often abused by the foster care system that is supposed to protect them. I recently sat with a 15 year old who had been through 32 foster placements. He still had a good grade average, but he’s the exception. The most I’ve heard was one of our recent Orange Duffel Bag Foundation graduates, who had been through 132 placements. She is 16. They want to graduate high school, but I wonder how your child would do if he or she were shuttled among that many schools? Oh, and add in not having access to technology to do your homework. Only 50% of all kids in foster graduate H.S. and only 3% go on to college. I agree that we need better assessment tools. But none of the kids I know would be motivated by the “privilege” of being on the dole. Helping them dream and giving them tools to achieve those dreams is a far more effective approach.”
Don’t get me wrong: I’ve met many caseworkers and others who work within the system who truly care about the kids they serve, and we love partnering with those folks. But the foster care system itself in our nation is broken. In the majority of states, kids age out of the foster care system at age 18. I don’t know many 18-year-olds who are equipped to be completely self-sufficient at that age, much less one who has been effectively cut off from the natural community connections and social interactions most kids take for granted.
The number of kids in care aging out without one single caring adult in their lives has skyrocketed by 42% over the last decade. These kids become our invisible homeless. They fill our prisons – more than 70% of inmates report having spent time in foster care or homeless shelters as children. They are victimized by the drug and sex trades.
Unfortunately a lot of laws and rules are made without a clear understanding of the impact they will have on the lives of children in foster care. They are confusing to me — a reasonably, intelligent adult — so I can only imagine how confused a teen is. Just this week, our family of advocates team spent about 30 minutes after the Atlanta coaching class with our current ODBF students discussing the myriad of situations that popped up. Some students don’t have proper IDs although it is Georgia law that everyone age 16 and older must carry a photo ID. Obviously, if you don’t have a valid ID, you are going to find it impossible to get a job or take your SAT/ACT test. Some are going for their GEDs and have college or military dreams, yet many schools and some branches of the military no longer accept GEDs. The military overall is severely limiting the number of GED-holders it will accept to less than 1% of all soldiers. Yet many caseworkers and foster parents are still pushing GEDs.
Those are just a few examples. Any parent who has helped his or her teen prepare for the SAT/ACT, fill out the FAFSA, and apply to colleges knows how complicated the process is. Multiply that by 10, and that’s what our kids are dealing with.
So how can you help?
ODBF Co-Founder and Board Chair Echo Garrett at Zooma Atlanta race in 2011 with Elena Taylor, 25, who aged out of foster care and recently shared her harrowing story in “Foster Focus Magazine.” Here’s the link to her story: http://www.fosterfocusmag.com/finishl...
Consider being a foster parent. There is a shortage nationwide – particularly among those willing to take older foster children.
Adopt a teen. I’ve interviewed 17 ½ year olds who were still hoping to be adopted.
Get certified to provide respite care – meaning a youth in foster care could stay in your home over a holiday or a weekend.
Get involved with a local organization that serves older youth in care like CASA (court-appointed special advocates) and serve as a mentor, a tutor, or an advocate.
Learn more about Orange Duffel Bag Foundation (www.ODBF.org) and consider becoming an advocate, volunteer, donor or corporate sponsor.
Support our celebrity spokesperson/singer/songwriter Kevin Montgomery (www.KevinMontgomery.com) on his 50 States in 50 Days Tour, a campaign to bring awareness to the many barriers faced by older teens in foster care and homeless youth. ODBF is his charity partner, and he’s working on a documentary by interviewing former foster youth in every state. Here’s the Roadmap of where he’ll be: http://www.kevinmontgomery.com/2012/0... –
Buy a copy of “My Orange Duffel Bag: A Journey to Radical Change” (the multi-award winning book upon which our certified life plan coaching for teens and young adults is based — and we will match your purchase with a gift of the book to an at-risk youth. (Please see BUY ONE, GIVE ONE, CHANGE A LIFE post for details).
August 24, 2012
BUY ONE, GIVE ONE, CHANGE A LIFE
Today Sam Bracken and I are launching our BUY ONE, GIVE ONE, CHANGE A LIFE campaign for My Orange Duffel Bag – A Journey to Radical Change. During Kevin Montgomery‘s 50 States in 50 Days Tour, which kicks off today in Alaska, for every copy of the new Crown Archetype version purchased, Sam and I will donate a copy of our self-published version to the Orange Duffel Bag Foundation, which Sam and I co-founded and which serves homeless youth and teens aging out of foster care (ages 12-24). Please share, share, share. We’ve touched the lives of almost 2,000 kids since ODBF started 2 years ago. Help get this book into the hands of at-risk kids.
Singer/Songwriter Kevin Montgomery‘s 50 States in 50 Days Tour kicks off today in Wasilla, Alaska, which has one of the highest rates of homeless teens per capita in the nation. When Kevin did this tour in 2010 with ODBF as his charity partner, he met Michelle Carney Overstreet, who at the time was the guidance counselor at a high school where almost all 300 students were homeless or “unaccompanied youth.” Black garbage bags filled with the teens’ belongings lined her office.
Kevin’s 2010 documentary kicked off with his interview of Michelle, who told us about the many barriers her kids faced. Drug and alcohol abuse is rampant in Alaska, and parents often abandon their teens, but keep their id’s so that they can continue getting aid for the teens who no longer lives with them. That means they can’t get aid, they can’t pursue higher education, and they can’t get jobs. The teens are literally out on their own with nothing to their names. The morning Kevin arrived, it was below zero. Michelle told him that when she got to school at 6:30 a.m. a 16-year-old boy with a black garbage bag was waiting on the steps of the school for her. He’d spent the night there, knowing that the school was the only place he had that was safe.
Since Kevin’s concert and subsequent postings, Michelle launched a campaign to build housing for homeless teens. The community held a candlelight vigil in frigid January to bring home the message that their homeless teens needed a safe place to stay. Now MY HOUSE (Mat-Su Youth Housing) www.myhousematsu.org is close to being ready. ODBF is proud of the role Kevin played in helping raise awareness in this community. The local bookstore is donating 20% from the sales of “My Orange Duffel Bag” to MY HOUSE https://www.facebook.com/MyHouseMatSu.
Most recently, Jasmine, a homeless teen, earned a $2,000 scholarship, but right now her college dreams are on hold because the state of Alaska will not allow her to get a student loan without a parent co-signer. MY HOUSE is working to raise the $10,000 she needs for her tuition and housing.
Last night I was serving as an advocate for our Atlanta class of teens in foster care who are taking our 12-week life plan coaching course. In the month and a half since I first met these young people, I’ve seen their hope for their futures grow by leaps and bounds. They share good news from their week – one got asked to tryout for a collegiate cheering squad next summer, another made the Top 10 roster on his high school’s highly rated basketball squad, another was accepted into 100 Black Men — and give each other support and high fives. This current class graduates on September 15, and will be presented with orange duffel bags and laptop computers. When kids know you love and believe in them, miracles happen.
Help us raise awareness in your community. Get involved with a local organization that serves homeless youth or teens in foster care. These are our kids. They deserve the love and guidance of safe, caring adults. Come out and support Kevin on his tour (see the Roadmap at www.KevinMontgomery.com). When you go to his site, you’ll see that in several states, he still needs house concerts. He’ll be interviewing kids who have aged out of foster care and homeless youth all along the way for a documentary to bring awareness about the 30,000 kids who age out of the foster care system each year and the 2 million homeless kids in our country. Buy a book, and we’ll match your purchase with a donation of a book to ODBF that will go to an at-risk kid. Donate to ODBF (www.odbf.org) and help us reach more kids with our transformational coaching program and ongoing advocacy. And please share, share, share this blog post. Our teens are counting on you.
August 22, 2012
An Upcoming Speaking Engagement at the Decatur Book Festival
Sam Bracken and I are featured authors and are speaking at the Decatur Book Festival. We’ll be there at 10 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 1 at the Decatur Conference Center Stage, Ballroom A. It’s a 45-minute session with a book signing afterwards. The Decatur Book Festival has grown to be one of the largest in the nation. There is something for every age group. Come out and join the fun!
August 18, 2012
On the Road to Help Teens in Foster Care
Sometimes when you grow up in the same house with someone, you don’t necessarily know them. I’m five years older than my sis Dee Dee Cooley and eight years older than my brother Kevin Montgomery. We weren’t close as kids, but now as adults we’ve found each other. I respect and love both of them so much. One of the greatest honors of my life was when my brother called me two summers ago and told me he’d read my book and loved it. More importantly, he got our cause — to help kids aging out of foster care and homeless kids — and wanted to help. I was thrilled when he told me he wanted to make Orange Duffel Bag Foundation his charity partner. In 2010 he dedicated his 50 States in 50 Days tour to our cause. In every state he did a house concert or played in a small venue and managed to video tape a kid who had aged out of foster care or an adult who was doing something extraordinary to help kids who desperately need it. That odyssey was grueling but it yielded moving video that gave a powerful snapshot of the barriers kids are facing all over the nation. Now he’s launching the next 50 States in 50 Days Tour in exactly one week. Several concerts aren’t yet booked. We need your help. Please check out the Roadmap and get in touch if you’ve got ideas. Hey, this is about the kids. Let’s make it a success: http://www.kevinmontgomery.com/2012/04/10/the-roadmap-for-the-2012-50-states-in-50-days-tour-rescheduled-host-a-house-concert-get-involved/
Enjoy!
July 26, 2012
The Orange Duffel Bag Foundation Honors At-Risk Youth Graduating from Intense 12-Week Life Skills Coaching Course
For Immediate Release
Contact: Echo Garrett
Co-Founder/President of Orange Duffel Bag Foundation
c. 404.538.4983 or echoODBF@gmail.com
The Orange Duffel Bag Foundation Honors At-Risk Youth Graduating from
Intense 12-Week Life Skills Coaching Course
ODBF provides life plan and goal achievement coaching for youth in and aging-out of foster care
ATLANTA (July 26, 2012) – On Saturday, July 28, The Orange Duffel Bag Foundation (ODBF) will honor graduates from its fourth comprehensive 12-week coaching program based on the 7 Rules for the Road from the multi-award winning book My Orange Duffel Bag: A Journey to Radical Change. Sixteen at-risk teens from Columbus, all in foster care and many close to aging out of the foster care system, have successfully completed the Orange Duffel Bag Foundation coaching program. The program coaches youth to find their passions, create a comprehensive Life Plan, set and achieve meaningful goals, learn strategies to overcome obstacles and remain focused on achieving their education.
To celebrate their accomplishments and further their education, each graduate will receive an orange duffel bag containing a laptop computer with technical service provided by Radio Shack. The ODBF program was created in partnership with the State of Georgia Department of Human Services.
During a closed morning session, graduates will present what was most meaningful to them from the course. A graduation ceremony will follow from 12:00 until 3 PM in Room 130 of Schuster Student Success Center, located at Columbus State University, 4225 University Avenue, Columbus, GA 31907.
“We could have never have helped these youth and others in Georgia without the partnerships and support of businesses and community leaders such as Mike Angstadt and Anne Elizabeth Shepherd Home, UGA Fanning Institute, Clark Atlanta University, Columbus State University, Xerox Foundation and Xerox Georgia, Radio Shack, POS World, Inc., Staples and Georgia EmpowerMEnt,” notes Mike Daly, ODBF Board Chair. “Together we have positively impacted these young lives. It’s often said we need to invest in our future’s most valuable resource, Georgia’s kids, and these partners have demonstrated that passion through their investment in our program and these youth.”
The foundation, co-founded in 2010 Sam Bracken and Echo Garrett, is a 501c3 nonprofit headquartered in Atlanta and provides coaching, training and ongoing advocacy to at-risk youth ages 12-24 in a spirit of offering hope and enriching young lives. Bracken was once a homeless teen who earned a football scholarship to Georgia Tech and became a successful executive. His story of triumph over adversity is the basis of the ODBF curriculum.
About The Orange Duffel Bag Foundation
The Orange Duffel Bag Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit, provides coaching, training and ongoing mentoring to at-risk youth ages 12-24 in a spirit of offering hope and enriching young lives.
www.OrangeDuffelBagFoundation.org
Text ORANGE to 85944 and “be the one to help the one.
July 23, 2012
Back to school
As a teenager I suffered from low self-esteem. I’d been bullied so much as a middle schooler that I changed schools. The bullies were gone, but their words dogged me as a high schooler. My high school teacher, Miss Sharon Tracey, made me start to believe in myself. She praised my writing frequently and publicly. I took the advance placement tests and was not required to take freshman English at college where I was a first-generation student. However, Auburn University required that all freshmen take an English class. My advanced English professor hated everything I wrote. I struggled to get above a C, and every paper came back to me swimming in red.
Just as Sam’s self-esteem was tied to his performance on the football field, mine was tied to how well my writing was received. When I went home for the Christmas break, my family had moved and all my journals, poems, stories, letters from penpals from around the world and papers had been stored in a shed. Everything was ruined by the damp Tennessee air and field mice. I decided that maybe the universe was telling me that my dream of being a writer wasn’t meant to be. After all, my English professor thought I couldn’t put together two sentences, and now all my writing was lost.
After taking a few quarters away from the one thing I enjoyed, I decided that letting someone else determine my future was a stupid idea — even if that person had a title and authority. I wrote a long essay on the country music scene — which I knew well since my family was in that field — for the campus literary magazine, and it was accepted. I wrote album reviews for “The Auburn Plainsman.” I screwed up my courage and ran a hotly contested campaign for yearbook editor — for some odd reason that was an elected office — and won. When I told my college advisor that I wanted to write for magazines and eventually move to New York City, he told me that only one other person in the journalism department had successfully accomplished that. His words served to fuel my determination.
We recently learned that our book was selected as the First Experience book for all incoming freshmen at Louisburg College in North Carolina, one of the oldest two-year colleges in the nation. I wish I’d had a book like this one when I was in school. Maybe it would have helped me silence the critics — both inside my head and outside — a lot sooner. Here’s Sam’s message to the decision makers on First Experience books:
http://commonreads.com/2012/06/26/a-message-from-my-orange-duffel-bag-author-sam-bracken/
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