Michele Smith, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Minnesota Field Office Director, presented at Northland Apartments in Bemidji today on the Foster Youth to Independence Initiative.
The Bemidji Housing and Redevelopment Authority will receive almost $30,000 in funding to help foster youth approaching adulthood avoid homelessness.
Smith spoke on how the children who have been in the foster care system have been through so much, and the potential some of these kids have.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 20,000 young people age out of foster care each year.
The National Center for Housing and Child Welfare estimates that approximately 25 percent of these young people experience homelessness within four years of leaving foster care and an even higher share face precarious housing.
Z99’s Scott Williams contributed to this story.
