SDSU and the NFL quarterback are creating opportunities for “forgotten” youngsters.

Life as a foster child isn’t easy, but the prospects for a former foster child are even more dismal.

Kids who don’t find permanent homes by age 18 are “emancipated” from the foster care system. Of the approximately 20,000 nationally who fall into this category each year, about 300 are local.

These “emancipated” youth soon learn the irony of euphemism. Shortly after their 18th birthday, they are given between $300 and $500 to find a place to live and some direction – fast.

For those not supported by a generous foster family (payments to foster families stop when their foster child turns 18), homelessness, welfare and crime are common. Only 50 percent of foster youth graduate from high school, and fewer than two percent go on to finish college.

Alex Smith wants to increase those percentages.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith and the SDSU
Guardian Scholars. Photo courtesy of Jessica Robinson

Building upon San Diego State University’s prior work with local foster high school students, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback recently funded 10 college scholarships through the Alex Smith Foundation and the SDSU Guardian Scholars program on Montezuma Mesa.

The SDSU Guardian Scholars program is part of the Educational Opportunity Programs (EOP) office, which has supported foster youth at SDSU since 1969. With Smith’s help, SDSU is now able to expand the program and offer the benefits of higher education to a greater number of former foster youth.

Eventually, as the program adds 10 or more students each fall, more than 50 former foster youth will be receiving financial support and the opportunity to earn a degree at SDSU.

Focus on SDSU

A native of San Diego, Alex Smith was acquainted at an early age with the plight of foster youth. His mother’s work with San Diego County Child Protective Services factored heavily into his understanding of the difference between kids that reach adulthood within the foster system and young adults like himself.

Selected as a first-round draft pick for the San Francisco 49ers in 2005, Smith decided to channel some of his salary into a program to help foster kids in his hometown and beyond. He created the Alex Smith Foundation.

Then, Smith learned about the Guardian Scholars programs on several California State University campuses and requested a meeting with SDSU President Stephen L. Weber to discuss the possibility of a program at San Diego State.

“Alex has always held San Diego State in high regard,” said his mother, Pam Smith. “He thought it would be a really great place to focus his efforts.”

The SDSU Guardian Scholars program, supported by the Alex Smith Foundation, got underway this summer. The foundation scholarships provide 10 former foster youth with tuition, meal plans and year-round housing, the last a crucial element for college students who may have no home to return to during academic breaks.

Getting underway

The foundation scholarship recipients run the gamut: freshman, sophomore, junior and transfer students. They were selected not solely by need, but by a willingness to accept one of the key components of the program: ongoing support provided by the scholarship director, Jessica Robinson.

“Anything a student would usually call a parent for, they can call me for,” she said.

That means helping them cope with everything from the complexities of romantic relationships to anxiety over course selection and career direction to finding dental care.

Guardian Scholars director Jessica Robinson helps
former foster youth adjust to college life.
Photo by Tom Farrington, ITS

Robinson says she has been pleasantly surprised at how often the students call her, even if it’s just to say they had a great day or are really enjoying a class.

“What’s cool about the program is that they don’t say, ‘OK, here’s a check, you’re on your own,’” said psychology major James Kantner, a sophomore. “It’s kind of like having parents at school – someone to talk to who wants to hear about your day.”

The Guardian Scholars program also eliminates the financial stress of finding money for tuition, books and living expenses. For college students without a parental safety net, that’s a major relief.

“I don’t have to worry about life as much as I did before,” said junior Heather Gay. “Now it’s great because I have people to talk to and I don’t have to think about paying back thousands of dollars in loans when I get out of school.”

Creating a pipeline

The objective of the SDSU Guardian Scholars program is to keep former foster youth in college. Helping them to get there is the domain of the SDSU Consensus Organizing Center (COC), which opened its doors in 1999.

At Helix High School in the San Diego community of La Mesa, COC staff talk about attending college with foster youth who might not have considered it. (Helix is Smith’s alma mater and his father is principal there.)

COC founder and director Michael Eichler leads a Social Work 120 course for Helix students. Completing a college-level course while still in high school instills confidence that they can succeed in a university environment.

A Guardian Scholar asks advice from a
Student Affairs staff member.

The Alex Smith Foundation picked up the COC’s high school work as part of the Guardian Scholars program and hired its staff to run both components. The partnership was a natural choice given the center’s mission to empower students from low-income neighborhoods to earn degrees and return to their communities as teachers and mentors.

“If they grow up in that community and they’ve been affected by the same issues, they’re much more effective at helping solve the problems,” Eichler said.

As the SDSU Guardian Scholars program enters its second year, students from the high school component of the program will become eligible for Alex Smith Foundation scholarships, thereby creating a pipeline of college-ready students.

By guiding these kids from 10th grade all the way through college graduation, the SDSU Guardian Scholars Program and the Alex Smith Foundation are helping to improve the outlook for emancipated foster youth.

Related information

• Alex Smith Foundation
• Consensus Organizing Center
• Education Opportunity Programs

Credits

• Story by Lauren Coartney
• Graphics by John Signer
• Banner photograph by Tom Farrington, Instructional Technology Services
• Edited by Coleen L. Geraghty