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Safe Passage:
Youth Transitioning From Foster Care Initiative
The Safe Passage Initiative represents a funding effort by Dade Community Foundation to make strategic investments toward improving the lives, opportunities and successful outcomes for youth transitioning from foster care to living independently. This includes focusing on foster care youth during the years they need to and should be receiving comprehensive preparation and the years after they have aged out of the system and must sustain themselves on their own. The overarching goal of the Safe Passage Initiative is to advance efforts that can improve opportunities and life success of youth making the challenging transition to independence. This Request for Proposals seeks to strengthen quality programs and services of organizations within the Miami-Dade child welfare community-based system of care and/or community-based programs that are not directly part of - but working with ? that system of care, which focus on preparing and supporting transitioning youth to succeed in life on their own. The initiative will award a limited number of grants up to $30,000 for a grant period of one year to support well-defined strategies that reflect the goals and priorities for the Safe Passage Initiative. This opportunity is made possible by the Foundation's DadeFund - a supporting organization of the Foundation.
Given the initiative's intent to build on and advance existing promising work, eligibility is limited. Applicant organizations must be able to demonstrate:
- Current engagement in and a track record of success around programming with the target youth population and around any of the Areas Critical to Success.
- A role in the state-funded child welfare community-based system of care services network (i.e. Our Kids / contracted Full Case Management Agencies) or a working relationship (referral agreements, service contract, memorandum of understanding, etc.) that connects them with that system of care and allows applicants to consistently access youth in the target population; and/or defined relationships with other local entities that provide them strategic access to former foster ccare youth 18 to 23 who may or may not be receiving Independent Living services from the child-welfare system.
- A strategic position within the community -- based on their role around this issue, the nature of their work, their ties to youth, etc. -- to complement and enhance the current system of care and support.
- Eligible applicants include tax-exempt organizations based in Miami-Dade County or if based outside the County are working in formal partnership with an eligible organization in Greater Miami. While the Foundation will not provide direct funding to government or quasi-governmental entities (eg. Miami-Dade Public Schools, the Homeless Trust, South Florida Workforce, etc.,) we strongly encourage partnerships between nonprofit organizations and these entities.
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