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What A Year YOU Made Happen!

Dear YGB Family and Supporters!

As we look back on 2015, we are thrilled that we have achieved new highs all thanks to YOUR generous support! This year, we built on many of the successes begun in 2014 and added new ones as well:

  • 2015 saw YGB support and benefit from a major fundraising and awareness-raising event, Voices for the Voiceless: Stars for Foster Youth, organized by YGB supporters Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley in response to city funding cuts.
  • YGB was honored to participate in Cantor Fitzgerald Charity Day on September 11th, which honored the victims of September 11th while highlighting the important and life-changing work of nonprofits such are ours. With Vanessa Williams serving as our Celebrity Ambassador, we were able to shed light on the needs of foster youth.
  • Humans of New York (HONY) featured YGB family and devoted staff member Denise Royal and her children, leading to more than 10,000 new YGB Facebook fans, nearly 1.5 million people liking the Royal family’s story on HONY’s social media pages, and tens of thousands of people around the world joining the conversation about adopting older kids.
  • This exposure has resulted in YGB’s beautiful video featuring the Toles family now having more than 180,000 views (100,000 more than this time last year)!
  • We recently began a partnership with AdoptUSKids to help deliver the teen permanency message through media work, PSAs, and public education. Stay tuned!
  • And of course, you can check out some of the amazing media coverage we have received!

But all of this success and awareness is in service of the work we do, day in and day out. In 2015, YGB:  

  • Announced our first Partnerships for Permanency with NYC foster care care agencies–working together in a multi-pronged effort to demonstrate measurable results in connecting more teens to families, building capacity and creating culture change at all levels of their foster care and residential programs.

  • Strengthened our regional and national advocacy movement, Nobody Ages Out (NAO), which includes a growing network of child welfare agencies, social workers, youth, parents, and advocates. As part of this effort, our NAO Youth Movement has begun to shake things up and have been asked to speak to hundreds of youth, caseworkers, child welfare leaders and public officials in NYC and around the country.
  • Continued to strengthen our LGBTQ partnerships to shed light on the problem of the disproportionately high number of LGBTQ youth in foster care.Matched or placed nearly 70 youth with permanent families.

And in the last two years, we are proud to have:

  • Matched or placed nearly 70 youth with permanent families.
  • Provided ongoing support services to more than 50 youth and families, to help them negotiate the transition and help strengthen and ensure enduring relationships.
  • To bolster our advocacy efforts, we recently secured a grant and partnership with AdoptUSKids to help deliver the permanency message throughout NYC and encourage prospective parents to consider adopting older youth through media work, PSAs, and public education and advocacy efforts
  • Launched a LGBTQ initiative to shed light on the problem of the disproportionately high number of LGBTQ youth in foster care, to encourage members of the LGBTQ community to consider adoption of older youth, and to focus recruitment and matching efforts on LGBTQ youth. To launch this effort, in 2014, we partnered with Heart Gallery of NYC to showcase a special PRIDE exhibit.

We are so grateful for your support throughout the years, and this one as well. If you haven’t had a chance to give, please do so now!

We’re sure that 2016 will have exciting challenges and opportunities – and no matter what happens, we will continue to strive to give the gift of family to youth in foster care – because it’s never too late for family!Wishing you all a wonderful new year!

With gratitude,

Susan and the rest of the YGB team!