Grant awarded to Hibiscus Children’s center

The Foundation is pleased to support Hibiscus Children’s Center,  Career Pathways to Independence Program.

Hibiscus Children’s Center is a not-for-profit agency made up of a number of programs serving abused, neglected and abandoned children. The Hibiscus Children’s Village is a group home facility; a more home-like setting to help teens successfully transition to foster, adoptive homes, and independent living at age 18.

Each year Career Pathways provides approximately 150 foster youth ages 13 – 17 with the support, structure, and guidance they need to receive a high school diploma or GED. Additionally foster youth ages 15 – 17 participate in career and adulthood preparation activities. Besides work experiences, the program gives these youths career, literacy and personality testing in order to ascertain their interests, abilities and possible career paths. Career Pathways provides weekly practice and information regarding critical thinking and intelligent problem solving, independent living skills, continuing education options, skills essential for getting and keeping a job and work counseling. Foster youth are assigned adult group mentors, receive adult guidance, direction and counseling, before they turn 18. They are also shown possible work, career and continuing education options available to them. This program curtails the vicious cycle of poverty, hopelessness, abuse and neglect as children develop and acquire skills and the confidence to make informed and positive decisions about their future. The program includes a full-time Career Pathways Coordinator who helps each youth explore their interests and encourages education and college options, arranges weekly seminars led by volunteers on career and life skills topics, as well as places youth in internships and pre-employment training for each youth. A full-time Educational Liaison develops an Educational Plan with each youth, provides daily oversight of their academic progress, and acts as a liaison to the school district and other educational entities. Additionally they are provided a part-time Teacher/Education Expert, whose office is located in our on-site GED Lab. The teacher and volunteer tutors are dedicated to assisting foster youth improve their math and literacy skills.