After a childhood spent moving from one foster home to the next, 18-year-old Shanika Ramos faced the scary prospect of life on her own.
Where would she live? How would she support herself? Could she finish school while she figured it out?
Fortunately for Shanika and thousands of Broward teens like her who “age out” of foster care, the FLITE Center in Fort Lauderdale is ready to help them learn the tools they need for a brighter future.
Within two months of connecting with FLITE back in 2016, Shanika had earned her GED and was enrolled in college classes. Later, FLITE helped her move into an apartment, complete with donated sheets, plates, cleaning supplies and other household necessities.
“Aging out was a very difficult process,” said Shanika, who is now age 25 and working at FLITE to help other young people find their way. “When I first came to FLITE I was very surprised that there was an organization of people who really seemed to care.”
The FLITE Center is a nonprofit organization that provides a safety net of services for young people at risk of falling through the cracks as they age out of foster care.
It was launched in 2009 by an innovative partnership of the Community Foundation of Broward, the United Way of Broward and the Junior League of Greater Fort Lauderdale – working in conjunction with the Children’s Services Council of Broward County – which teamed up to tackle an emerging community need. When the state of Florida in the early 2000s started cutting off assistance for foster kids who turned 18, the Community Foundation and its partners joined forces to help local young people at risk of homelessness and unemployment get the tools they needed to become self-sufficient.
Now in its 15th year, the FLITE (which stands for “Fort Lauderdale Independence, Training & Education”) Center is a one-stop-shop for helping young people leaving foster care. They can get help earning their GED and applying to college. They learn about earning trade certifications and landing internships. They get connected to counseling and health care. FLITE helps them find housing they can afford as they work on launching their new lives on their own.
“We were created because there was a systematic need and a gap in our community,” FLITE CEO Christine Frederick said. “Our vision is nobody travels the road to adulthood alone.”
The Community Foundation has helped make that vision come to life with more than $1 million in support for the FLITE Center. Community Foundation grants to the FLITE Center support GED completion, job readiness training, housing aid, life coaching and more opportunities for young people in need to shape brighter futures.
In 2023, we launched an exciting new chapter in our partnership with the creation of the FLITE Center Sustainability Fund. This new charitable fund at the Community Foundation – fueled by investments from philanthropists who support the FLITE Center’s mission – ensures an ongoing source of support to help young people overcome financial hurdles that emerge as they pursue higher education. Grants from this fund help FLITE’s youth pay their bills so they can stay focused on pursuing a college degree or trade certification, instead of having to drop out.
Shanika knows just how much the new FLITE Center Sustainability Fund will help transform lives. Even with FLITE’s help after she left foster care, Shanika eventually had to step away from college because she needed to work more to pay her bills. She’s finally back in school to finish her degree and she’s hopeful that grants from the new FLITE Sustainability Fund – to pay for rent, utilities and other essentials – will help other young people avoid having to put their college plans on hold.
“Once you get that higher education … then you start getting into higher paying jobs,” Shanika said. “It’s less of living paycheck to paycheck and more of living within your means and being stable.”
LEARN MORE ABOUT NONPROFIT ENDOWMENT FUNDS AT THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF BROWARD.
To find out how you can partner with the Community Foundation of Broward to create permanent support for your charitable passions, contact Kelly Marmol, Vice President of Philanthropic Services, at kmarmol@cfbroward.org or 954-761-9503.
