Good Morning, Colorado, and welcome to the Daily Sun-Up. It’s Tuesday December 29th, and we’re feeling lucky to start the day with you. Join us daily for an in-depth look at one of our top stories. Today - new programs in Colorado aimed to help young people who have aged out of the foster system.

Before we begin, let’s take a look at what happened on this day in Colorado history - adapted from Derek R Everett’s book “Colorado Day by Day”:

Today, we take you back to December 29th, 1845 when Texas joined the Union. It’s legal limits at the time of admission included nearly half the counties in modern day Colorado. Considering the distance from Texas’s government, they exercised no control over modern Colorado, even though their claimed authority existed through it.

Now, our feature story. 

More than 200 young people each year leave foster care in Colorado without ever getting adopted, returned to their parents or sent to live with relatives. 

They move directly from a foster home or group home to adulthood. More than a third of them end up homeless. 

As the statistics remain dire every year, Colorado is responding with new housing voucher programs and new apartments built specifically for youth who have aged out of the foster system. 

The latest efforts to break the cycle of homelessness, public assistance and involvement in the child welfare system are happening in Arapahoe and Jefferson counties, plus Denver, Montrose and Delta. 

Colorado Sun reporter Jennifer Brown is joining us today to tell us more about these efforts. 

As Jennifer just mentioned, a new federal housing voucher program specifically targets this group of young people. It’s called the Foster Youth to Independence program, or an “FYI” voucher for short, and it’s beginning to take off in multiple Colorado communities. 

Jefferson County’s housing authority, Foothills Regional Housing, placed its first former foster youth with the voucher back in November 2019. And beginning in February, the Littleton authority will begin using the vouchers in Arapahoe County. 

Meanwhile, Mile High United Way is working to set up a similar partnership to use the voucher through the Denver Housing Authority. 

This new program is unique because it’s localized -- it’s meant to work best as a streamlined partnership between a local housing authority, child welfare officials and nonprofits. 

Under the localized voucher program, child welfare workers and volunteers identify young people who are at risk of becoming homeless when they leave their final foster placement. They contact the local housing authority to secure a voucher, as well as help the youth find an apartment that accepts the voucher. 

As Brittany Wade, the program manager for the “Bridging the Gap” foster youth program at Mile High United Way told us  -  until we can start ensuring that young people aren’t going to spend any time homeless, with a solid ‘this-is-where-I’m-going-from-foster-care-plan,’ it’s still going to be a pervasive problem of young people falling through the cracks.

Thanks for listening. Before we go here are a few stories you should know about today:

Four more Colorado prisoners die after suspected coronavirus infections, bringing pandemic total to 24

Linda Madigan felt relieved on Monday, a day after the $908 billion federal COVID-19 aid package was finally signed following a week of protest by the president.

For more information on all of these stories, visit our website, www.coloradosun.com. Now, a quick message from our editor.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Good Morning, Colorado, and welcome to the Daily Sun-Up. It&rsquo;s Tuesday December 29th, and we&rsquo;re feeling lucky to start the day with you. Join us daily for an in-depth look at one of our top stories. Today - new programs in Colorado aimed to help young people who have aged out of the foster system.
Before we begin, let&rsquo;s take a look at what happened on this day in Colorado history - adapted from Derek R Everett&rsquo;s book &ldquo;Colorado Day by Day&rdquo;:
Today, we take you back to December 29th, 1845 when Texas joined the Union. It&rsquo;s legal limits at the time of admission included nearly half the counties in modern day Colorado. Considering the distance from Texas&rsquo;s government, they exercised no control over modern Colorado, even though their claimed authority existed through it.
Now, our feature story.&nbsp;
More than 200 young people each year leave foster care in Colorado without ever getting adopted, returned to their parents or sent to live with relatives.&nbsp;
They move directly from a foster home or group home to adulthood. More than a third of them end up homeless.&nbsp;
As the statistics remain dire every year, Colorado is responding with new housing voucher programs and new apartments built specifically for youth who have aged out of the foster system.&nbsp;
The latest efforts to break the cycle of homelessness, public assistance and involvement in the child welfare system are happening in Arapahoe and Jefferson counties, plus Denver, Montrose and Delta.&nbsp;
Colorado Sun reporter Jennifer Brown is joining us today to tell us more about these efforts.&nbsp;
As Jennifer just mentioned, a new federal housing voucher program specifically targets this group of young people. It&rsquo;s called the Foster Youth to Independence program, or an &ldquo;FYI&rdquo; voucher for short, and it&rsquo;s beginning to take off in multiple Colorado communities.&nbsp;
Jefferson County&rsquo;s housing authority, Foothills Regional Housing, placed its first former foster youth with the voucher back in November 2019. And beginning in February, the Littleton authority will begin using the vouchers in Arapahoe County.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, Mile High United Way is working to set up a similar partnership to use the voucher through the Denver Housing Authority.&nbsp;
This new program is unique because it&rsquo;s localized -- it&rsquo;s meant to work best as a streamlined partnership between a local housing authority, child welfare officials and nonprofits.&nbsp;
Under the localized voucher program, child welfare workers and volunteers identify young people who are at risk of becoming homeless when they leave their final foster placement. They contact the local housing authority to secure a voucher, as well as help the youth find an apartment that accepts the voucher.&nbsp;
As Brittany Wade, the program manager for the &ldquo;Bridging the Gap&rdquo; foster youth program at Mile High United Way told us&nbsp; -&nbsp; until we can start ensuring that young people aren&rsquo;t going to spend any time homeless, with a solid &lsquo;this-is-where-I&rsquo;m-going-from-foster-care-plan,&rsquo; it&rsquo;s still going to be a pervasive problem of young people falling through the cracks.
Thanks for listening. Before we go here are a few stories you should know about today:
Four more Colorado prisoners die after suspected coronavirus infections, bringing pandemic total to 24
Linda Madigan felt relieved on Monday, a day after the $908 billion federal COVID-19 aid package was finally signed following a week of protest by the president.
For more information on all of these stories, visit our website,<a href="http://www.coloradosun.com/"> www.coloradosun.com</a>. Now, a quick message from our editor.See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.

Welcome to The Colorado Sun's daily podcast, The Daily Sun-Up. Every day we’re sharing an in-depth look at one of our top stories, followed by a quick summary of important things happening in our state. For more visit us at https://coloradosun.com/.

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