{"id":5043,"date":"2023-09-14T07:27:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T11:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/?p=5043"},"modified":"2023-09-14T07:27:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T11:27:14","slug":"a-fantastic-new-organization-serving-young-adults-young-adult-development-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/a-fantastic-new-organization-serving-young-adults-young-adult-development-services\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fantastic New Organization Serving Young Adults \u2013 Young Adult Development Services"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
\"\"

Mary Thomas, Founder of YADS<\/p><\/div>\r\n

Earlier this year, when my father was in hospice care, one of our caregivers was an outstanding woman with a large heart named Mary Thomas.\u00a0 During this time, she also became a family friend.\u00a0 She shared with us a new nonprofit she recently formed to serve young adults who \u201ctime out\u201d from the foster care system, but still need life and vocational direction and support.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Below is a short discussion with Mary. Please do read this and consider supporting this critical work serving Raleigh and Wake County.<\/p>\r\n

STAN:<\/strong> Mary, can you tell me about this new non-profit you started?
MARY: Young Adult Development Services<\/a><\/strong> (YADS) provides a stable environment to enable our local “aged out” foster care population ages 18-24 to focus on personal development, higher education, mental health, as well as life and workforce skills. We enable our youth to thrive in our communities, not just survive!

STAN:<\/strong> Why did you decide to start this organization? What motivated you?
MARY:<\/strong> I decided to start this organization having gone through the devastating loss of both parents by the age of 11. I had to fend for myself at an early age of 16 and am no stranger to difficult circumstances like many other young adults that are placed in a situation beyond their control.<\/p>\r\n

\"\"STAN:<\/strong> What challenges do young adults who age out of the foster system often face? How can your organization help them?
MARY:<\/strong> For youth who age out of foster care there is an increased rate of homelessness, unplanned pregnancy, incarceration and a less than 3% chance of attending college. Our Youth Program consists of housing formerly aged out foster youth for a period of two years as they work to become self-reliant citizens of the community.

STAN:<\/strong> What are ways that people can support this work?
MARY:<\/strong> There are many ways people can be a part of our work! They can support us by becoming a Host Family, joining our Sponsorship Programs, Donations, Transitional Homes, providing employment and Becoming a Board Member.

STAN:<\/strong> How can people learn more about Young Adult Development?
MARY:<\/strong> Please check out our website www.youngadultdsc.org.<\/a><\/strong> We can be emailed at info@youngadultdsc.org or called at (984) 833-8237. In addition connect with us on Facebook and Instrgram: Young Adult Development Services

STAN:<\/strong> Is there anything else you would like to share with us?
MARY<\/strong>: Formerly aged out foster youth need and deserve a loving family, housing, education, employment, finances and other support. YADS<\/a><\/strong> is working to help communities fill those gaps.

<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, when my father was in hospice care, one of our caregivers was an outstanding woman with a large heart named Mary Thomas.\u00a0 During this time, she also became a family friend.\u00a0 She shared with us a new … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2357,2354,2355,2356],"class_list":["post-5043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-info","tag-foster-care","tag-mary-thomas","tag-yads","tag-young-adult-development-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}