REFCA Champion Lisa Dickson is involved in a wide array of initiatives in Ohio that amplify and honor youth voice and experience. She works diligently to ensure that young people living in foster care are designing and implementing on the federal level, including speaking directly to HUD leadership. In this episode of INNOVATE!, Lisa shares the story of how she helped create a youth-specific Ombudsman Office and how she advocated for the inclusion of youth voice and leadership in the passing of the Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act.
Welcome back to INNOVATE! for Season Three! This season, host Angela Tucker highlights REFCA Champions who are inspiring a Re-Envisioning of Foster Care in America. These visionary leaders are using their wisdom, expertise and lived experiences in foster care to transform the foster care narrative from Alaska to New York, California to Missouri, the Pacific Northwest to New England.
To learn more about INNOVATE!, the Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America (REFCA) Movement and the Treehouse Foundation, go to treehousefoundation.net. As always, be sure to like and subscribe to the podcast to be notified when new episodes are released.
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ABOUT THE HOST:
INNOVATE! host, Angela Tucker, is a REFCA Champion and a nationally recognized mentor, entrepreneur, educator and consultant. Angela is a transracial adoptee who, having been adopted from foster care by a white family, grew up in a city that was demographically just 1% Black.
She is the Founder of The Adopted Life, a child-welfare consulting business where she strives to center adoptee stories and bring clarity and truth to narratives about race, class and identity.
Angela is the author of You Should Be Grateful: Stories Of Race, Identity, and Transracial Adoption. She has hosted the previous two seasons of INNOVATE!, and currently works as the Executive Director of the Adoptee Mentoring Society.
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Angela Tucker - Host & Producer
Nicholas Ramsey - Editor & Producer
Judy Cockerton - Executive Producer