Aspiranet hosts Andrus Family Fund West Coast Grant Recipients Conference, Sept. 23-24

SAN FRANCISCO, CA) Aspiranet, one of the largest nonprofit adoption and foster care support organizations in California, serving thousands of foster children and families, will host an educational conference in South San Francisco Sept. 23-24. The conference will feature non-profit organizations from the Western United States working with emancipating foster youth and community based groups.

Sponsored by the Andrus Family Fund, the conference will bring together similar agencies in a shared learning environment, specifically addressing the William Bridges Transitions Framework adapted by Aspiranet, and other non-profits working with teens in foster care and recently emancipated teens.

Aspiranet will implement the Transitions Framework in six Central Valley counties, including Fresno, Madera, Tulare, Merced, Stanislaus, and Visalia. More than 165 foster teens and emancipated youth are enrolled in the innovative program.

"Improving skills and learning new tools and concepts in social and behavioral work is crucial as we look forward in caring for new young adults," said Vernon McFarland Brown, CEO of Aspiranet. "The purpose of the conference is to learn from each other and to better understand how the Transitions Framework has worked in each population and community."

The conference will also feature special music composed and performed by former foster youth and presentations by: Aspiranet, A Home Within, Consensus Organizing Center, First Place for Youth, Innovative Services NW, Southern California Foster Family & Adoption Agency, VOICES – Napa, VOICES – Sonoma, Walden Family Services, Life Coaches from YMCA 24 Independent Living Program, The Bridge for Youth, and Transitional Coaches.

About Aspiranet

Aspiranet, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charity, supports foster children, siblings and families through specialized services offered through 25 satellite centers within California.

Founded more than 30 years ago, Aspiranet is one of the most diverse private adoption and community human welfare agencies in California. Offering more than 35 core programs and services in six areas of expertise – Family Services, Adoption, Foster Care, Education, Afterschool programs and Community partnerships, Aspiranet improves the lives of thousand of families statewide yearly. Information: www.aspiranet.org.

About The Andrus Family Fund

The Andrus Family Fund, a sub-fund of the Surdna Foundation, was established in 2000. AFF´s grant making is guided by the belief that social change efforts will have a better chance for success when the emotional and psychological effects of the change process are recognized and addressed. AFF´s Board and staff have adopted Bridges Transitions Framework which states that transition is fundamentally different from change.

AFF examines the power of the transition model as it applies broadly to the area of social change and as it applies specifically to its two program areas: (1) youth´s passage from foster care to independence; and (2) community reconciliation, which supports programs that promote healing, and construct a shared vision of community that is founded on justice and that respects difference. AFF focuses its grant making around these program areas while also seeking to learn about the relationship between external change and internal transition. Information: www.affund.org

Interview contacts:

Jeannie Imelio, Regional Director

Aspiranet Central Valley

209) 669-2582

jimelio@apspiranet.org

Art Chaparro, Director of Development

Aspiranet

714) 788-3507

achaparro@aspiranet.org

Jill Williams, Program Officer

Andrus Family Fund

212) 687-6975

jwilliams@affund.org

Media Contacts:

Consortium Media Services(805) 654-1564

PR@consortium-media.com

Tina Vervoorn, ext. 117

Melissa Healy, ext. 116