NWF Health Network CEO Mike Watkins witnessed President Donald Trump sign an executive order on Thursday to help young people in foster care.
“This is a call to action for communities of faith to take back their role in coaching, mentoring and investing in our children,” Watkins said, who had been invited to the White House’s East Room event, in a statement afterward.
First Lady Melania Trump spearheaded the “Fostering the Future for American Children and Families” executive order to expand mentorship, scholarships, technology, and job opportunities for youth who have been in foster care.
“Too many people from the foster care community end up homeless, in danger on America’s streets,” she said in her prepared remarks. “Fostering the Future, a Be Best initiative, provides individuals from the foster care community with technology-based scholarships to attend colleges and universities throughout America. Fostering the Future sets these individuals on their career paths, but more significantly, it equips each scholarship recipient with a fundamental foundation of knowledge that will endure throughout their lifetimes.”
The White House’s goal is to create a public-private partnership with federal departments and agencies, businesses, universities and nonprofits.
For instance, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) helps youth get federal jobs.
“In consultation with youth who have experienced foster care, OPM will collaborate with federal agencies to identify internships and early-career employment that provide hands-on experience in government,” the White House said in a press release.
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is launching a pilot program to donate decommissioned federal laptops to youth in foster care.
Several schools are also giving out scholarships to students from foster care.
“I applaud the American Universities that have joined my mission — institutions like Vanderbilt University, University of Miami, and Villanova University,” Melania Trump said. “This Executive Order, ‘Fostering the Future for American Children and Families,’ gives me tremendous pride. It is both empathetic and strategic. It will certainly be impactful.”
