Fontana Youth Initiative

The Fontana Youth Initiative (FYI) would like to share with you a very exciting new opportunity from the Fontana Center Artist Collective. The Artist Collective uses a variety of art forms, as an outlet for youth in Foster Care to interact and share their experiences in a safe space. Starting this summer of 2020, the Artist Collective will be two virtual workshops titled, Art as Advocacy and Mindful Writing and Creating, and are inviting you to join! To learn more about ...the workshops, flyers (with further information, regarding time, dates and materials) and the sign up links are attached below. We look forward to seeing you there! Art Advocacy Sign Up: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx Mindful Writing Sign Up: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx

Here is our second spotlight of the month! What is your name and pronouns? Amanda Durante- She/Her/Hers... Where are you from? Westfield, NJ What is a fun fact about yourself? Within 10 days I visited Rome, Florence, Assisi and Vatican City. What are you studying/did you study and where? I will be graduating with my masters in social work from New York University this may and I received my BSW at Monmouth University. What are your aspirations for the future? My aspirations for the future is to open up my own private practice and receive my LCSW. How did you first get involved in FYI? I got involved with FYI through NYU. It grabbed my attention because of their mission statement and I wanted to be a part of this amazing group of people. What interests me in child welfare? I love working with children, and I believe strongly that it is important that we are children's voices and advocate the best we can for them. I have always wanted to make a change in the world and working in child welfare is a great way to start. if you could tell the world 1 thing about child advocacy, what would it be? No matter how big or small, young or old everyone deserves to have a voice and have their voice heard. Sometimes, children’s voices get lost in the crowd, but their voices are just as important as ours.

Our first ever FYI Member Spotlight of the month! What is your name and pronouns? -Jordan; she/her!... Where are you from? -Denver, Colorado What’s a fun fact about yourself? -I have a background in music, so I have studied voice for years and also play piano, guitar, and ukulele! What are you studying/did you study and where? -I studied Drama at NYU Tisch! What are your aspirations for the future? -I hope to be a professional comedic writer and actor, ideally out of Los Angeles. My dream is to create an all-women production company producing comedy television. How did you first get involved in FYI? -I took a tour of the Fontana Center as a part of a science class I took at NYU. I’ve always been interested in advocacy work, especially with children, so I felt particularly inspired by the tour. I reached out to Leslie, the Director of the Fontana Center, and asked if there was any way I could get involved. Around this time, others who had been on the tour felt the same and also reached out to Leslie. Since there wasn't a volunteer's group for us to join, we became the first members of the group Leslie helped organize, thus forming FYI! What interests you about child welfare? -I’ve always loved children and have recently been learning more about their legal rights in this country and just how often they are vulnerable to many types of crimes. The more I learn about child welfare, the more I want to advocate for structural change in policies regarding children's rights. If you could tell the world one thing about child advocacy, what would it be? -That when bad things happen to children, it doesn’t just go away on its own. By ignoring the widespread issue of child abuse and neglect, we are contributing to the shame that often surrounds its victims. The first step to helping victimized children and ensure abuse doesn’t happen to more is openly talking about the issue.

On Friday, November 15th, 2019, the Fontana Youth Initiative (FYI) had its first official fundraising event for the New York Foundling’s Crisis Nursery. The event was a night of fun, consisting of Thanksgiving-themed food, games, and arts & crafts, along with movies, including, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, for the children and staff to enjoy in the spirit of the holiday. FYI was inspired to work with the Crisis Nursery, after taking a tour over the past summer, and seeing ho...w the Crisis Nursery cared for the children. This sector of the Foundling is dedicated to providing a safe and nurturing environment for children, while their primary caretakers respond to crises or emergency situations. FYI was so impressed with the Crisis Nursery’s work that the group’s first event was dedicated to them. An Amazon registry list was created so that those who attended the event, along with the public were able to donate items, such as, baby food, clothing, baby bottles, toys, etc. for the children in the Crisis Nursery. Both FYI and the Crisis Nursery were delighted with and grateful for the amount of donations received (and the registry is still active for anyone who would like to donate now, which can be done by clicking on the link, placed below). The children at the Crisis Nursery, shortly after the event, made cards as a thank you to all who donated and contributed to the event. FYI plans on having more events and fundraisers, mirroring and expanding on the success of the first. Photography: Jordan Dillard Amazon Registry: https://www.amazon.com///ls/1JYX1UCA1293T/ref=hz_ls_biz_ex