PRESS RELEASE - Jacksonville, FL (22 June 2010)

It Takes This Special Village to Raise Foster Kids to Adulthood
Submitted by Tonyaa Weathersbee on June 22, 2010 - 11:26pm
Tonyaa Weathersbee's Blog

When Mikessia and Dimesha were born, their mother welcomed them into the world with unique names. Too bad she wasn't able to stick around to help them navigate their way through it.

When the girls were toddlers, their mother became so drug-addled that the state removed them from her home. From that point on through their teen years, they lived with a string of relatives - and a lot of anger and uncertainty.

"Since I was a baby, it's like everything hasn't fallen in the right place," said Dimesha, who is now 16. "My dad died, and my mother has been on drugs her whole life ... I lived with my aunt, but I started acting out ..."
But these days Dimesha and her sister, who is 17, are working to find their way in a world that other adults were unable to shepherd them through, and one in which most foster children become adrift. And they're doing it through the help of Touchstone Village, a program that provides transitional housing for youths ages 16 to 21.
These are youths like Dimesha and Mikessia; youths who have never known the stability of a permanent home as children and who, without help, won't know how to create one for themselves once they are too old for foster care.

During a recent luncheon at Touchstone Village, guests listened to the sisters' story and toured the complex. Twenty apartments and a group home comprise the village off Parental Home Road on Jacksonville's Southside. Youths who live there are taught the things they need to know to survive on their own; the things that a parent would normally teach them. Among other things, they are taught how to properly clean their apartments, and how to manage money and pay bills, as well as shop and cook. Many of them have jobs - Mikessia works at a McDonald's - and they learn good work habits and other life skills.

Touchstone Village couldn't have opened at a more crucial time. According to a study published by the National Foster Care Month Partnership, the number of children who age-out of foster care has ballooned from 19,000 in 1999 to nearly 30,000 in 2008. What that means is that for years, thousands of children have been shunted from home to home, with the priority being that their basic needs - a safe place to live and food to eat - are met. Once those foster children turn 18, they are turned out on the streets with virtually no clue as to how to survive. As a result, more than one in five wind up homeless.

"They're [former foster children] really the new homeless population," said Tom Patania, president of Youth Crisis Center Foundation, which also oversees Touchstone Village.

On top of that, one in four will wind up in jail or prison after two years of leaving the system. This situation, however, shouldn't surprise anyone. If children have only known disruption most of their lives, it's impossible to expect them to be able to build a stable life when they have no clue as to what that looks like. And with so many children either moving from foster home to foster home, or from relative to relative - chances are they've been so busy trying to survive that they haven't learned how to drive, or have a checking account, or how to handle basic adult tasks.

That's why Touchstone Village is needed - and it needs help. It needs gift card donations, mentors, twin bed ensembles and donations of dependable vehicles.

But what's also needed is for everyone to examine ways to dismantle the drug culture and the community dysfunction that causes youths like Mikessia and Dimesha to have to depend on strangers to teach them what every kid, ideally, ought to be able to learn at home.

PRESS RELEASE - Jacksonville, FL (21 January 2010)

Touchstone Village Opening A Grand Success
On January 21st, what started out with frightful weather ended up with storm clouds clearing in time for the grand opening celebration of Touchstone Village . And a grand event it was! Over 150 attended the celebration to hear a speech by Mayor Peyton via video. The attendees enjoyed the music of the UNF Jazz Ensemble, a DJ and food & beverage stations donated by some of Jacksonville 's best restaurants. The visitors were able to tour the entire campus that had staff and board members providing information about the program at each location. We continue to provide tours of Touchstone Village for those who were not able to make the opening event. If you are interested in touring the campus, please contact Donna Koncinsky at 904-805-0850 or email donna@ycc.org.

PRESS RELEASE - Jacksonville, FL (10 September 2009)

YCC staff with contingent of visitors from the UK on Touchstone Village construction site.

Visionary – Unique – A Potential National Model - Impressive
These are the terms being branded by visitors to the Touchstone Village campus currently under construction. Media coverage and word of mouth have spread the news about YCC’s newest and most ambitious project to help young people between the ages of 16-21 years transition to adulthood as productive citizens of our community. Within the past several months, we have hosted tours of Touchstone Village by youth-serving professionals from Gainesville , Tallahassee , Tampa , and Ft. Lauderdale , in addition to a cadre of local professionals from such organizations as WorkSource, Job Corps, and Children’s Home Society. The State Department also escorted a contingent of 5 professionals from the UK on a national tour of model programs. They reported that Touchstone Village was the highlight of their tour, and asked us to consider an exchange program. We invite you to visit our campus at 3015 Parental Home Road in Jacksonville . And we ask that you consider ways you can help us help these young people on our campus.

PRESS RELEASE - Jacksonville, Florida (10 September 2009)