Alliance for Our Futures seeks to bring together youth voices authentically, create space for youth and young adults with lived experience to work alongside system leaders to find solutions to local issues, and provide a platform for statewide collaboration.
The Texas Alliance of Child and Family Service has partnered with the Selfless Love Foundation, a Florida non-profit, to create a statewide youth voice movement with a dual focus on transition– age foster youth and child welfare system improvement. That’s us… Alliance for Our Futures. We strive for a system where transitioning youth are viewed as organizational assets; youth voice is embedded in local and statewide policy and practice; and child welfare staff are better equipped to engage and support transitioning youth.
Alliance for Our Futures seeks to harness authentic youth voices, create space for youth and young adults with lived experience to work alongside system leaders to find solutions to local issues and provide a platform for statewide collaboration. We are a youth engagement initiative that provides current and former foster youth opportunities to:
Develop skills for leadership and life.
Build relationships with likeminded peer leaders.
Advocate and educate for policy changes.
Join a network of youth leaders across the state of Texas to improve the system of care.
Alliance for Our Futures is designed to support Texas youth between the ages of 13-23 that have lived foster care experience.
✓ Be between the ages of 13 and 23 years old.
✓ Live in stable housing, employed, and/or are pursuing educational/workforce development goals.
✓ Have an interest and passion for learning about challenges and finding solutions to improve foster care outcomes.
✓ Support our Mission, Vision, and Values.
✓ Willing to educate the public, policymakers, and youth practitioners.
✓ Attend Monthly Workshops, Statewide Monthly Calls, Quarterly Town Halls, and other leadership opportunities.
✓ Collaborate with key decision-makers.
✓ Build relationships and increase your leadership and communication skills.
✓ Meet and collaborate with peer leaders across the state who are equally passionate about improving foster care outcomes.
✓ Be trained on skills that you can use to put on your resume.
✓ Participation stipends.
Celebrate October’s Foster Youth Voice Month with us!
My Story, My Way is all about telling our own stories on our own terms. Taking the time to process and reflect on what might have been a harrowing childhood is no small feat! As they build their adult lives, youth with lived experience are learning how and with whom to tell their stories. This month, we celebrate all the manifestations of youth voices in our diverse community.
View and download our Texas Foster Youth Voice Month toolkit to use on social media and at your organization during the month of October.
Check out a blog about #MyStoryMyWay authored by Leroy over on the TACFS website,
Spread the word about Foster Youth Voice Month in October!
Join us on Thursday, November 21st from 5 pm to 6 pm via Zoom for our quarterly town hall on legal support. You will hear directly from the Texas Foster Youth Justice Project staff and have an opportunity to ask questions about the different services they provide.
Fill out the form below and we will
contact you as soon as possible!
We host Monthly Workshops, Monthly Statewide Meetings, Quarterly Townhalls, Service Projects,
and participate in Foster Youth Voice Month in October.
‘Lead Your Way’ focuses on giving you all of the tools you need to create your own leadership development plan. This type of plan can help you grow in your current role and also prepare you to take on additional leadership responsibilities in a new role.
Youth organizing is the process of building power as a group and using this power to create positive change in their lives. Learn about youth organizing, develop a root cause tree, host focus groups, and move the needle on local issues.
How to share your story in a healthy purposeful manner.
Understand where youth voice is required in the child welfare system and how to appropriately advocate for yourself in those situations.
Understand the strengths that youth/adults bring to the partnership.
Alliance for Our Futures is designed to support Texas between the ages of 13-23 that have lived foster care experience. There is no previous advocacy or leadership experience required. We encourage young people of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, from low-income families, with disabilities, or from other underrepresented communities to join.
Alliance for Our Futures is a statewide youth movement that strives to amplify youth voices and facilitate the youth-adult partnerships. We provide free monthly workshops, statewide meetings to connect with other areas of the state, quarterly town halls and other opportunities throughout the year.
It is not a paid internship, fellowship, or employer.
Like any other leadership program, you’ll get as much out of our program as you put into it. We hope you can join us for as many opportunities as you are able. You can also meet one-on-one with the Youth Impact Project Manager to debrief and see if there can be any arrangements made.
Young people who participate in monthly workshops and statewide meetings and complete the pre and post surveys, will be compensated with an e-Gift Card of their choice using Giftogram.
We encourage young people of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, from low-income families, with disabilities, or from other underrepresented communities to join.
