New Lead Agency Helms Jim Casey Initiative’s Mississippi Site

The Jim Casey Youth Oppor­tu­ni­ties Ini­tia­tive wel­comes South­ern Chris­t­ian Ser­vices for Chil­dren and Youth as its new lead agency part­ner in Mississippi.

For more than 20 years, South­ern Chris­t­ian Ser­vices has cham­pi­oned abused and neglect­ed chil­dren and youth, equip­ping them for bet­ter futures. It served near­ly 200 young peo­ple aging out of the Mis­sis­sip­pi fos­ter care sys­tem in 2015 alone, pro­vid­ing tran­si­tion­al liv­ing ser­vices and finan­cial assistance.

“Togeth­er, the Jim Casey Ini­tia­tive and South­ern Chris­t­ian Ser­vices for Chil­dren and Youth will work close­ly to make sure all young peo­ple leav­ing fos­ter care have the oppor­tu­ni­ties, rela­tion­ships and tools need­ed for a suc­cess­ful tran­si­tion to adult­hood,” said San­dra Gas­ca-Gon­za­lez, direc­tor of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Jim Casey Ini­tia­tive. ​“This new part­ner­ship reflects our con­tin­ued ded­i­ca­tion to build­ing a rock-sol­id foun­da­tion for all young Mis­sis­sip­pi­ans in fos­ter care.”

As part of the Jim Casey Ini­tia­tive net­work since 2014, the Mis­sis­sip­pi site pro­motes youth engage­ment, cre­at­ing com­mu­ni­ty part­ner­ships and improv­ing poli­cies and prac­tices that affect youth in and aging out of fos­ter care to help com­bat the chal­lenges young peo­ple face when tran­si­tion­ing to adult­hood. These chal­lenges include com­plet­ing high school and post-sec­ondary edu­ca­tion, ensur­ing safe and sta­ble hous­ing and form­ing per­ma­nent, sup­port­ive relationships.

“South­ern Chris­t­ian Ser­vices for Chil­dren and Youth has been a leader in Jack­son and through­out Mis­sis­sip­pi in sup­port­ing youth as they pre­pare to leave fos­ter care and live inde­pen­dent­ly,” said Ingrid Cloy, the new Mis­sis­sip­pi site lead. ​“I am thrilled to be work­ing in part­ner­ship with the Jim Casey Ini­tia­tive to strength­en its ser­vices and renew its com­mit­ment to Mississippi’s youth.”

South­ern Chris­t­ian Ser­vices for Chil­dren and Youth joins 17 oth­er lead part­ner agen­cies for Jim Casey Ini­tia­tive sites: 

Ari­zona: Children’s Action Alliance
Con­necti­cut: Depart­ment of Chil­dren and Families
Flori­da: Con­nect­ed by 25 
Geor­gia: Mul­ti-Agency Alliance for Children
Hawaii: EPIC ​‘Ohana
Indi­ana: Con­nect­ed by 25
Iowa: Youth Pol­i­cy Insti­tute of Iowa
Maine: Uni­ver­si­ty of South­ern Maine, Edmund S. Muskie School of Pub­lic Service
Mary­land: Bal­ti­more City Depart­ment of Social Services
Michi­gan: Depart­ment of Human Services
Nebras­ka: Nebras­ka Chil­dren and Fam­i­lies Foundation
New Mex­i­co: New Mex­i­co Child Advo­ca­cy Networks
North Car­oli­na: Youth in Transition
Ohio: YWCA of Greater Cleve­land, A Place 4 Me
Penn­syl­va­nia: Alleghe­ny Coun­ty Depart­ment of Human Services
Rhode Island: Fos­ter Forward
Ten­nessee: Depart­ment of Children’s Services