The Fair Futures model provides 1:1 coaching, social-emotional, academic, career, housing, and life skills supports to young people from 6th grade to age 26.
The model has been implemented and scaled across all 26 NYC foster care agencies and currently serves nearly 4,000 young people ages 11-26. The model is also being implemented across the NYC juvenile justice system.
In 2022, Fair Futures launched a pilot in Buffalo – see more here.
The Fair Futures model helps young people:
Prepare for and graduating from high school
Build trusting relationships and a network of positive adult and peer supports
Connect to and persist in post-secondary settings
Engage in career development experiences in line with their interests to help them eventually navigate onto a living wage career pathway
Access and maintain stable, affordable housing and gain independent living skills
While the model currently serves NYC foster youth, by 2023 it will also reach hundreds of young people in the juvenile justice sector!
Fair Futures Coaches:
Are full-time, highly trained professionals that receive ongoing support/technical assistance
Build trusting relationships with the young people they support, and the key adults in their lives
Believe in the young person’s potential and let them lead
Provide emotional support on a weekly basis
Help young people develop and achieve their goals
Expose youth to opportunities and help them explore both academic and career pathways
Connect youth to schools, programs, and opportunities in line with their interests
Help young people persist in academic and career opportunities
Celebrate their success at every juncture!
In the first year of Fair Futures implementation, all 26 foster care agencies implemented the model; over 400 staff were hired and received 7.5+ days of training. These staff in turn provided nearly 3,000 young people in foster care with 1:1 coaching, tutoring, and an array of individualized academic, career development, and housing supports.
Fair Futures was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the significant challenges that presented, early results are strong systemwide:
Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, by the end of the first year, nearly 99% of young people engaged with their Fair Futures Coach.
In the first year of implementation, 85% of young people who were coached for 90+ days (the engagement period) achieved at least one academic and/or career development goal; an average of 3 goals were achieved by each young person!
In the second year, 90% of young people who were coached achieved at least one academic and/or career development goal, and an average of 3.8 goals each!
Every goal translates to a positive outcome, based on where that young person is on their journey. Goals can include reconnecting to school, grade promotion, high school graduation, post-secondary enrollment, college persistence, engaging in a career development experiences (internships, vocational training, employment), and accessing and maintaining housing.
For the first time ever students in foster care have *equal to better* chance than their peers of getting into high schools with an average graduation rate above the City average, due to the Fair Futures middle school program!
Before Fair Futures, most foster care agencies did not have the capacity to provide 1:1 assistance to 8th grade students with NYC’s complex high school selection process. As a result, students in foster care entered high schools with an average graduation rate significantly below the citywide DOE average and were overrepresented in the lowest 25% percentile of schools.
The Center for Fair Futures set out to change this, as students in foster care deserve an equal shot at getting into quality, best-fit high schools!
As a result, for the first time ever, students in foster care who received the 1:1 support from Fair Futures entered high schools with average graduation rates *at or above the NYC DOE average*!
And - fewer students got into high schools in the bottom 50% quartile and more students got into schools in the top 50% as compared to before Fair Futures.
We have more work to do, but we are so proud of the dedicated Middle School Specialists for working so hard to help change the academic trajectory of these young people!
Chapin Hall Evaluation
The impact of Fair Futures is being evaluated by Chapin Hall through a 5-year evaluation, and the results of ChapinHall’s Phase 1 report on the launchand system wide implementation of Fair Futures will be published soon!
The 86-page report commends the quality and speed of implementation systemwide during the pandemic, the strong youth-centered culture created by Fair Futures, and the Center’s continuous improvement model and range of supports provided to agency staff.
All of the recommendations made were underway by the time the report was released and have been fully implemented!
What did we do?
We worked with our close partners, Advocates for Children and At The Table, to develop a robust training, high school selection guide, and easy-to-use tool to identify quality schools by geography;
Fewer students got into high schools in the bottom 50% quartile and more students got into schools in the top 50% as compared to before Fair Futures.
Monthly learning communities were launched to support these Specialists with each stage of the process; best practices and challenges were shared;
Specialists received 1:1 assistance, as needed.
What did we do?
We worked with our close partners, Advocates for Children and At The Table, to develop a robust training, high school selection guide, and easy-to-use tool to identify quality schools by geography;
All Fair Futures Middle School Specialists were trained on how to provide 1:1, quality advisement to students on the high school selection process;
Monthly learning communities were launched to support these Specialists with each stage of the process; best practices and challenges were shared;
Specialists received 1:1 assistance, as needed.
What were the results?!
For the first time ever, in both FY21 and FY22, students in foster care who received the 1:1 support from Fair Futures with the high school selection process entered high schools with average graduation rates *at or above the NYC DOE average*!
Fewer students got into high schools in the bottom 50% quartile and more students got into schools in the top 50% as compared to before Fair Futures.
What were the results?
For the first time ever, in both FY21 and FY22, students in foster care who received the 1:1 support from Fair Futures with the high school selection process entered high schools with average graduation rates *at or above the NYC DOE average*!
Monthly learning communities were launched to support these Specialists with each stage of the process; best practices and challenges were shared;
