Roots & Wings Foundation A New Jersey Non Profit Corporation

Programs: Roots & wings experienced exponential growth during 2017. We added two, four bedroom apartments in the morris county rise program, and one, two bedroom apartment in the union county rise program. This doubled the amount of beds that we have available in morris county from eight beds to sixteen. The ten beds opened this year is more than the number of beds opened in the last five years combined. After being awarded the impact 100 grant, roots & wings was able to add two new positions in 2017: fly program manager and part-time volunteer coordinator. These two new positions have allowed roots & wings to expand the number of fly clients we are able to provide services to as well as the amount of volunteers we have. This also has allowed us to begin providing fly clients with a volunteer mentor, when previously we only had the capacity to provide rise clients with a volunteer mentor. In 2017, roots & wings safely housed 22 young adults through the rise program and served an additional 24 young adults through the fly program. Each client in residence received a minimum of four hours of case management per week and two hours of counseling per week. In addition, a volunteer mentor was assigned to every rise client. Fly clients received approximately 2 to 4 hours per week of case management services. Monthly life skills seminars were conducted throughout 2017. Roots & wings' residential clients are either pursuing furthering their education or acquiring career and vocational skills through a variety schools or training programs. In 2017, roots & wings clients were enrolled in rutgers university, montclair state university, jersey city state university, the county college of morris, union county community college, morris county vo-tech, the continuing education department of the county college of morris, and real estate licensing classes. One client graduated from rutgers university and another from bergen county college. Other 2017 accomplishments include a successful rise and fly gala with a current client speaker, presentation by hans dekker, president of the community foundation of new jersey and honoree, and over 300k raised in support of aged out foster youth. We had a wonderful outpouring of volunteer and donor support in opening up the two new houses in morris county, which included community members assembling furniture, painting bedrooms, and setting up kitchens for the new incoming participants. Roots & wings staff continues to be recognized as leaders in the field of foster care, earning a presentation timeslot at the national association of social workers in 2018.