County offers grants for foster-care grads

RALEIGH -- The Wake commissioners voted unanimously Monday to approve an agreement with Wake Technical Community College to provide scholarships of up to $10,000 a year to students who were in foster care.

Called the Fostering Bright Futures Fellowship, the program seeks to decrease high-school dropout rates among children in the foster care system by offering money for college to those who graduate. In addition to grants, the program provides for a mentor to help guide the student toward the completion of a degree program at Wake Tech. To participate, the student must maintain a grade-point average of 2.5 or better and work at least 10 hours a week at a part-time job.

Wake County will provide $50,000 in initial funding to provide scholarships to five students, but officials hope to eventually raise $5 million for the program -- enough to offer a scholarship to every foster care child in the county who completes high school.

Stephen Scott, president of Wake Tech, credited Commissioner Kenn Gardner with approaching him a couple of years ago with the idea of creating a scholarship for young adults, who often leave the foster care system at 18 with too little support. Scott said that, statistically, children who had been in foster care are more likely than their peers to end up in prison and other negative life circumstances.