Nearly $38,000 has been raised to help shore up a state scholarship fund for young people in the foster care system, thanks to an event held this week in Grand Rapids. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Spokesperson Bob Wheaton says the Fostering Futures Scholarship Trust Fund was created by the legislature to assist those young people in foster care who often find they simply can’t afford to go to college
“70% of young people exiting foster care nationally say they want to go to college, but fewer than 10% who graduate from high school actually enroll in college, and the, fewer than 1% of those graduate from college,” Wheaton told WSJM.
Fostering Futures Scholarship dollars raised between 2012 and 2015 provided scholarships to more than 1,000 young people who previously were in foster care. There is currently about $530,000 in the scholarship fund, all raised with donations. Thursday’s fundraiser at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids netted $37,900 as attendees took part in a silent auction and bought raffle tickets for prizes. The next fundraiser for the fund will be in Detroit in September. You can find out more about the Fostering Futures Scholarship Trust Fund at www.Michigan.gov/SetWithMet .
