WFUV STRIKES A CHORD FOR CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE

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Strike a Chord is an award-winning public service campaign designed to draw attention to vital community-related issues in the New York metropolitan area. Each quarter the station explores subjects ranging from natural disaster recovery to electoral engagement with on-air public service announcements, news features, and special programming, as well as occasional events and public forums. Strike a Chord was developed in conjunction with WFUV's Community Advisory Board. Listeners and organizations interested in being involved can find more information at www.wfuv.org/strikeachord.

This spring the award-winning Strike a Chord campaign of New York public radio station WFUV (90.7 FM/ wfuv.org) turns its attention to organizations working with the foster care system in the New York metropolitan region. The campaign is spotlighting organizations that work to support children in the system and families or individuals who want to get involved with fostering or mentoring children.

In addition to public service announcements that have aired for the past month, the campaign includes news stories by WFUV student reporters Julia Rist and Natalie Migliore at 7:54 am and 3:54 pm from Monday, March 5 through Friday, March 9, covering a variety of issues, from the trauma kids in foster care often experience to the challenges they can face pursuing higher education.

The campaign will culminate with a Cityscape panel discussion on March 11 at 6:30 am, recorded at the studios of BronxNet TV. The panel will feature interviews with the heads of two prominent nonprofits that assist kids in foster care--Graham Windham and The New York Foundling--as well as with foster and adoptive parents and a young individual who navigated life in foster care. The program will also be available to view on BronxNet TV.

"From becoming a foster parent to simply being a mentor, there are many ways to help foster children in need. Kids in foster care can face a variety of challenges, especially older kids who face 'aging out' out of the system without knowing what they're next step will be," said WFUV News & Public Affairs Director George Bodarky.

The organizations spotlighted in this spring's Strike a Chord campaign include:

Little Flower - serves children, families, and individuals with developmental disabilities across New York City and Long Island.

Lawyers for Children - provides free legal and social work services for children in foster care as well as working on public policy and class action advocacy to achieve system-wide changes in the field of child welfare.

SCO Family of Services

- offers vital human services throughout New York City and Long Island to help vulnerable children and adults with special needs to build a strong foundation for the future and stabilize and strengthen families.

CASA NYC - ensures children in foster care have their needs met and rights protected and are able to move out of foster care and into permanent, safe and loving homes as quickly as possible; and that young people aging out of foster care have the resources and support they need to live independently.

Adoptive & Foster Family Coalition - speaks out on behalf of adoptive, foster and kinship families and children needing permanent, loving families.

Hearts to Homes - works to assist newly independent young adults who have just aged out of foster care. Their assistance alleviates some of the stress during the initial transition by providing the essentials to furnish a new home.

Graham Windham - Through the Graham School, family and community support and foster care and prevention programs they offer support, individualized instruction, treatment, and vocational training for each student's academic and social needs.

The New York Foundling - empowers children and families to live independent, stable and fulfilling lives by supporting over 27,000 children and families each year in all five boroughs of New York City and surrounding counties, and Puerto Rico.

Family Services of Westchester - works to provide a broad range of social and mental health services to support and strengthen families, children and individuals at every stage of the life cycle.

You Gotta Believe - works as a NYC Metro organization that exclusively focuses on finding permanent families for young adults, teens, and pre-teens in foster care.

CASA for Children -- Passaic County - advocates for and abused and neglected children, helping them through the foster care system.

Leake & Watts- provides caring support and proven paths to positive change, helping the most vulnerable children, adults, and families rise above adversity.

Cardinal McCloskey Community Services - protects, empowers and promotes independence for at-risk children and families and those with developmental disabilities through quality community based services.

The Felix Organization- works to help youth in foster care become tomorrow's leaders. Felix provides help to foster care youth to build job experience, expand their leadership skills, and learn on-the-job competencies that will help them begin their professional careers.