In our effort to expand the number of foster youth we can serve, we've applied for the SF Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development Grant. Unfortunately, we were not selected among their initial recommendations, and we're hoping that you could send an email (suggested language below) to the Mayor's office or attend the public meeting seeking reconsideration and building awareness of the crisis situation in SF’s foster care.

Please send an email within the next week to: <CommDevRFP@sfgov.org> 

Or, feel free to attend the meeting on Tuesday, Feb 4 at 5:30 pm at SF Main Public Library, Koret Auditorium, and speak in support of foster youth and SFCASA

DRAFT Message to Mayor’s Office of Housing & Community Development – please personalize as you’d like.

Dear Mayor Breed,

I'm writing to ask that you reconsider including San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocates (SFCASA), an organization that supports foster youth through mentorship and advocacy, in your Office of Housing and Community Development Grant award. 

I have personally witnessed the positive benefits a CASA volunteer can have on a foster youth's life. A CASA can truly make all the difference to a foster child's sense of community when the foster youth is placed in an otherwise isolating situation, such as those 650 foster children who will be placed outside the County or 250 who will be placed in foster homes more than 100 miles away this year.

Regardless of the location of their placement, foster youth are San Francisco citizens who are currently not being served by the programs funded by San Francisco taxpayers, and were not on the preliminary award list for this grant. 

SFCASA is the only organization that consistently ensures that our most vulnerable youth receive services to thrive even when they are placed outside the city. I'd ask that you reconsider including SFCASA as a grant award recipient to make sure that San Francisco's current and recent foster youth are not further isolated from their home and community.

Sincerely,