Campus support of foster care youth

1. Emerging Scholars
Mentoring Program
Central State University
Zakiya Brown
Director of Student Engagement & Campus Life

2. Overview
• The Emerging Scholars Program is a partnership between Ohio Reach and
Central State University to provide resources and services to foster care
alumni attending Central State University
• Through this initiative, we were able to identify 41 foster care alum who are
First-Year Central State University Students
• This partnership between Ohio Reach and Central State University is
important for our foster care alum persistent rate is 58.5%, 8.5% lower than
the overall University’s rate.

3. The Process
• Over the summer, a committee of us met to develop a plan as to how we will
accomplish three goals
• Identify and contact students to be a part of the program
• Contact and invite faculty and staff members to serve as mentors for the students
• Create a communication plan
• Develop a timeline for the official launch of the program, training for
mentors and students, solidify and schedule the initiatives offered through
the program

4. Initiatives
• Seeds2Success
• Helping Hands
• CONNECTIONS
• Power Hour
• JourneyWithin
• EXPLORE
• Marauder Reach

5. Initiatives
• Seeds2Success Workshop Series –Workshops that are offered once a month for
Emerging Scholars and their mentor.TheTopics center on providing life skills, soft
skill enhancement, financial literacy, etc.
• Helping Hand – A program that focuses on building a connection between the
Emerging Scholars with local professionals who are foster care alum and graduates
of Central State University
• CONNECTIONS – A mentoring program for First-Year CSU Students who are
members of the Emerging Scholars Program. Mentors are self-selected faculty and
staff members of the CSU Community.
• Power Hour – 10 hours a week study tables that each Scholar is required to
participate in .This initiative is sponsored through University College.

6. Initiatives, con’t
• JourneyWithin – A support group that meets monthly facilitated by the
Central State University Student Counseling Services.
• EXPLORE – An exploration series for students to experience and develop
their global perspective through co-curricular activities in an immersive
format.
• Marauder Reach – Is an initiative where Emerging Scholars are developing
their civic responsibility through service learning opportunities.

7. Currently in Progress
• The CONNECTIONS Mentoring Program
• Marauder Reach

8. CONNECTIONS Mentoring Program
• We were able to identify 20 faculty and staff from within the Central State
University to serve as Mentors.
• 2 training sessions took place on September 23rd for faculty and staff who would
serve as Mentors
• Noon – 1:00P
• 4:00P-5:00P
• October 14th was the official launch of the Emerging Scholars CONNECTIONS
Mentoring Program.
• We met with the students separately to share what their involvement would look
like and the expectations

9. Challenges
• Out of 41 identified and contacted students, only 10 students have
committed to the program
• There were late applicants who shared that they were hesitant with initial
communication being that they were not familiar with the individuals who
were emailing them or had never heard of the program.

10. Next Steps
The Launch of
• Seeds2Success
• Helping Hands
• Power Hour
• JourneyWithin
• EXPLORE

11. Questions??
Zakiya Brown
Director of Student Engagement & Campus Life
Central State University
937.376.6414
zbrown@centralstate.edu