Improving the Outcomes of Youth Aging Out of Foster Care

by the Tech Executive Leadership Initiative Winter 2023 Cohort

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As part of their 10-week policy training, the leaders of the Tech Executive Leadership Initiative spent 6 weeks working on a real-world government challenge. In teams of 4-5, the leaders tackled the following prompt:

• How can the State of Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services (OKDHS) better connect aging-out foster care youth to existing government and community resources?

Each team narrowed its focus to a specific part of the problem, conducted research, and developed solutions. Click below to view a sample of the outputs each team created.

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Using A Self-Service Online

Portal To Improve Outreach

For Foster Youth

By Dioselin Gonzalez, Mukunda Penugonde, Eva Pereira, and Maayan Roth

This project recommends the creation of a self-service online portal by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) to improve outcomes for foster youth. The portal would allow aging-out foster youth to provide, edit, and update their contact information. This tool will enhance the ability of service-providing agencies to reach those youth reliably and so to connect the youth to government and community resources.

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Putting Foster Youth in Charge of

Their Transition Into Adulthood

With a Web Application

By Suhas Joshi, Ivana Ng, Kesone Phimmasone, Jesse Taggert, and Jane Yang

This policy project proposes that OKDHS develop a mobile-friendly web app called “Glow Up”. Glow Up will allow foster youth to take control of their transition into adulthood by replacing traditional paper-based milestone planning with a web app. The proposed app will allow foster youth to manage their growth into adulthood directly, enabling them to define their goals and collaborate with their support team to achieve them.