Community education awareness programs via public speaking engagements helps boost the self confidence of the speaker, including those who are still in the foster care system, said Briggs.Members are current and former foster youth, 14 to 24 years old.And one important facet of the CYC program is to attain the goal of altering negative perceptions the public has of youth growing up in the foster child system and replacing them with positive impressions.Briggs now has custody of her three younger siblings, and is thankful for CYC and its support in making her a more self confident person with high self expectations.There are approximately 850 children in foster care in Ventura County, including 300 teenagers, living in 170 foster homes; many, noted Briggs, end up in group homes.
California Youth Connection empowers foster youth, Rotary learns
January 02, 2002
Santa Paula News
The California Youth Connection (CYC) is devoted to former and present foster youth making a difference by taking action to improve not only their own lives, but the lives of all foster youth, Rotary Club members learned at a recent meeting.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe California Youth Connection (CYC) is devoted to former and present foster youth making a difference by taking action to improve not only their own lives, but the lives of all foster youth, Rotary Club members learned at a recent meeting.Foster Coordinator Sabrina Briggs said because her home life was unbearable, she bounced around different relatives before becoming a foster child. She became a member of CYC at age 17.California Youth Connection was started in 1988, “Giving youth a voice, help turn anger into a positive tool for change, help make changes in your own life and in the system,” said Briggs. Through the Ventura County chapter of CYC, “. . .I found I had a voice, I wasn’t just a number and it empowered me.”CYC literature notes that “We who comprise CYC membership are in the foster care system through circumstances beyond our control and through no fault of our own. Instead of remaining victims, we choose to improve our lives, to educate our community, our legislators, ad effect changes that will advance the primary rights of all children.”The Ventura County chapter, now with about 20 members, championed the successful passage of a transitional housing bill, a sibling contact bill, grants for higher education, a Medi-Cal extension bill and much more, Briggs noted.
