A new construction project in Springfield will provide help for young people aging out of the foster care program.
The Good Samaritan Boys Ranch is planning to build a 5,000-square-foot facility for office and warehouse space. It will be a place where young adults who are in the foster care system and in the organization's transitional housing can access furniture, life skills training and relational support. The idea is to create a home environment that promotes security and well-being, according to the nonprofit.
Jayme Raynor is community development director for Good Samaritan.
"For most people, their 21st birthday is a time of excitement and joy, if you will," said Raynor. "But for many of our youth it's a looming deadline that they know as soon as the day that they turn 21 they lose access to the support and the services that the State of Missouri provides them with while they're in foster care."
She said they currently have 35 youth in their Transitional Living Apartments program, which serves those aging out of the system. That program helps young people learn life skills so they can succeed on their own. Part of that is helping to provide household items.
"The apartment program really helps them focus on learning the essential life skills of adulting, if you will, and a big part of that, of course, is having the supplies and essential household items that any person would need moving into their first apartment, and so we get to provide those for them," said Raynor.
Those items, furniture, dishes, crockpots, etc., are currently stored in a building by their girls' group home in Willard. It's not an ideal location for those aging out of foster care to be able to pick out their own items, according to Raynor. The new location, on Norton Rd. in Springfield will be easier to access.
She said there’s a huge need for services like their apartment program in Missouri – they currently have young people on waiting lists.
The new $1.6 million facility on the city's north side will be funded, in part, by a $635,000 state appropriation and American Rescue Plan Act funds. Raynor said donations are still needed. The new building will house offices for apartment staff at Good Samaritan who provide youth with case management services.
She said the public can donate gently-used items for foster youth who are aging out of the system.
Find out more at ranchlife.org.
