November 18, 2025 • 37 mins
Tom Baldwin serves as the Director of Strategy and Development for the Belmont University Social Innovation Labs, where he helps students, leaders, and organizations rethink how meaningful social change is made. With more than two decades of experience launching innovations across the business and social impact sectors, Tom brings a thoughtful and creative lens to today’s most complex challenges.
The Innovation Lab recently released its Impact and Investment Case—a bold invitation to reimagine how we support youth transitioning out of the foster care system. Their work explores what it takes to shift systems, unlock new forms of capital, and develop leaders who can build a more supportive future for young people.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:05):
We really should have waiting parents, not waiting children.
Over 100,000 children are available for adoption through
the US foster care system and 27% don't have anyone like a
relative or foster parent, in the process of adopting them.
60% are between the ages of fiveand 17.
And two. Thirds are part of sibling
groups of two to eight children.Hey listener, my name is Marcy
(00:27):
Bursack. My husband and I chose Adoption
is our Plan A. After blogging about our journey
adopting A sibling pair, I beganmentoring families right in my
own living room. That passion grew into the
Forgotten Adoption Option, a nonprofit and now lead as a
volunteer while working full time in the tech industry.
From my blog, Three Books App and Classroom Lesson to now a 45
minute course called Foster CareAdoption Simplified, which you
(00:50):
can find at forgottenadoptionoption.com,
I've created practical, heartfelt resources to help
families navigate the foster care adoption process.
As you listen to this episode, Iencourage you to ask yourself,
who in my circle needs to hear this?
It's often people in what we call helper professions.
People like therapists, nurses, doctors, police officers,
(01:11):
firefighters, social workers. And teachers like my husband.
These are the people who tend tostep forward to adopt children
from foster care. But this work isn't only about
becoming an adoptive family. It's also about becoming an
advocate and ally. Every waiting child deserves not
just a forever family, but a community of people who champion
their future. Whatever LED you to this
(01:33):
podcast, I am thrilled that you were here.
My mission is simple, to help every waiting child be with
their forever family. And that's exactly why I host
this podcast. Welcome to the Forgotten
Adoption Option podcast. In this episode, we'll be
discussing evolving support for youth transitioning from the
(01:56):
foster care system. Tom and I met through an
introduction from Chip Painter, who was an undergraduate student
at the same time as me at Belmont University.
Belmont is located in Nashville,TN and is very involved at the
state level with Governor Bill Lee in transforming the outcomes
for children and youth in fostercare.
You might remember Anthony Donovan, who was a former boss
of mine when I was a resident assistant at Belmont.
(02:16):
He's Belmont's associate Dean ofstudents and director of
residence life. He came on and talked about
tailoring the needs of first generation college students in
Season 3. So if you haven't heard that,
feel free to go back and play that.
So Chip and I reconnected as he began working in alumni
relations at Belmont and immediately was like, you have
to meet Tom. So, hey, Tom.
(02:37):
Hey, Tom. So, yeah, you're welcome.
Tom is such an interesting person.
So, OK, right now he's the director of Strategy and
Development for Belmont Innovation Labs, but he has over
2 decades of experience in business leadership and
launching market innovations to social impact space.
And at Belmont, he works with students, leaders and
organizations on new approaches to generating positive social
(02:59):
impact. What I think is really
intriguing is Tom like did this whole corporate world thing and
was like, I'm going to go just like work with this, this
university and like create a bunch of change.
It's, it's just a very interesting story.
I'll get to hear more of his background.
But the Innovation Lab recently released their Impact and
investment case, which is focused on evolving support for
system change, capital innovation, and leadership
transformation to support youth transitioning out of the foster
(03:23):
care system, which is really important and so much needed.
So we really wanted to share these insights with you, which
is why we're having this episode.
So Tom, perhaps the place to start is why on earth did you
end up leaving corporate America, ending up at Belmont?
And why do you care so much about children in the foster
care system? Yeah, I'm happy to answer that.
Thanks again for having me, Marcy.
(03:43):
It's been great to spend time with you and and get a chance to
meet you and hear more about your story and what you've done.
Such a voice in this space. I came to Belmont to help build
cross sector solutions to hard problems.
I've been in innovation for 25 years, as you mentioned, and I
felt like innovation and the practice of innovation has a lot
(04:06):
to apply in the social space forsystemic issues that a lot of
our most vulnerable fall into. I'm also an adoptive dad to an
11 year old along with two biological kids, so walked
closely with other adoptive families during that journey and
that lived experience, you know,obviously hits close to home.
(04:28):
On this particular work. We got engaged with the state of
Tennessee and I didn't know as much about transition age youth,
teenagers who hit adulthood without what they need.
And through this, through this project, become really engaged
and involved in trying to come up with solutions that help them
(04:51):
transition into adulthood more effectively.
So it's really like Co creating a solution is what it sounds
like. It's not like how we're going to
decide this for you. Yes, for sure.
I mean we'll get into a little bit of the philosophy that I
ground in our innovation practice in and that's primarily
based around lived experience. And so when we think about any
(05:12):
innovation that we want to take on, you know early in my career
was about user centricity or user centric design.
So how do we get close to the person that's experiencing or
using the product that we were developing?
And philosophically, that's whatwe've centered our process on
that we're developing now, whichis how do we spend enough time
(05:33):
with those who have lived experience to understand what
the patterns are that we can identify and the needs that they
have, And then merge that with people of influence and
authority who have the ability to do something about it, but
maybe not have the lived experience.
(05:54):
Important because to be able to hear kind of directly from
what's, what's going on there. So I want to rewind for a
second. So you mentioned you have a son
that's adopted that's 11 and I think our listeners are going,
OK, the two other kids like what's what's birth order?
When when did you adopt in the birth order?
Yeah. So our oldest is 17 year old
girl who's in her senior year atRavenwood looking at Belmont as
(06:15):
one of her options, which is great, but others as well.
And then we have a 14 year old son.
So we had two older children before we adopted.
We, you know, we were on a journey of would we have a 3rd
And having that conversation as a couple.
And I read a book, Radical, and it completely changed my
(06:38):
perspective in terms, of, you know, how we should think about
what expanding our family shouldlook like.
We explored international, but birth order was important to us.
And so we ended up in domestic adoption through Bethany
Christian Services. We were living in Indiana at the
time. And yeah, about a year and a
(06:59):
half after publishing our our book about our family, we, we
met Kohl's mom. And yeah, we ended up taking him
home from the hospital on April 2nd of 2014.
Beautiful story. Fun fact, I actually my early
days in kind of following my heart in the adoption space.
(07:19):
I actually was on the board in my local chapter, Bethany
Christian Services for a bit. So interesting thing to have in
common. Yeah, thanks for explaining that
because it's always interesting to hear kind of like, OK, when
did that kind of come into your your family sequence and how did
that go? And so I know Bellma's doing
some significantly innovative things, specifically in foster
care, which gets me so jazzed up.
(07:39):
And I'm sure like you're going to have every day and doing this
for work. So like, it's, it's like right
there in front of you. And I know staff can attend
licensing classes on campus during the work day.
And then you all have specific scholarships and support systems
that have been established to support students who have aged
out of the foster care system. And listeners, my new book has
(08:00):
just come out by the time you'rehearing this called It's OK to
talk about adoption. And there's way a deep dive on
this. And there it's such an important
model. But I'm curious if you can tell
us like about these programs, because they're, to me, they're
like the thing all of us should be doing.
Yes, I mean that was one of the things that, you know, through
President Jones and his wife's leadership, you know, youth is
extremely important, not just because we're a university
(08:22):
educating the next generation, but holistically and fostering
adoption. Adoption was pretty prevalent in
our employee handbook, giving people space and time.
Also, you know, having program specific both to families,
mostly to families that were that were adopting, but Foster
(08:42):
was a missing component, right? And so went through a process of
the identification of what should the the handbook elements
be for staff and faculty. And then what should the
curricular components be in terms of how do we teach in some
of the classroom where we do have case study examples like in
the College of Social Work that should include Foster as as part
(09:03):
of the program? And then how do we think about
the campus facilities once we start to have Foster youth
attend the university, which we do have several.
In fact, one of the youth that we met through our through our
program with the state just started her freshman year
(09:23):
through the College of Law. And that's such a small
percentage of youth to get the opportunity to do that.
But then when they're on campus,what happens at Christmas when
the dorms close or what happens in the summer?
And now they're forced into where am I going to stay?
Which, as we've talked with others, their journey had been
disrupted. They got to college, and then it
(09:44):
was significantly disrupted because they ended up having to
become homeless or home hopping while they were trying to
navigate the holidays. And so we're looking at ways in
which the campus can be what we call, you know, foster friendly.
We know that terms used in the space, but how do we think about
that? And then how do we share that
with other universities around the state to help them
(10:06):
understand what the potential there is, You know, in the
journey of a youth that goes through foster care and doesn't
have a forever home that, you know, the the statistics on
their ability to get to post secondary are really low.
But if they get that opportunityand that does become a path for
them, how can we be receptive inan environment where they can
(10:27):
have the best, best chance to succeed?
Huge need. And yet, you know, like it's
just, I get so proud of Belmont of like, OK, we're all we're
just like, Oh well, someone should.
It's like, no, let's let's go tothis.
And I'm very curious, Tom, like I don't know if you were there
at this time, but why all of a sudden was there sort of this
analysis saying, OK, we have adoption written into some of
these things. Why isn't foster care?
(10:48):
Like who? Who had that question or how did
that even kind of come up? Yeah, leadership, I mean,
President and First Lady Jones have had a heart for this for a
long time before they were at Belmont, You know.
So that started our desire to unpack this more as a
university. And then that coincided with the
(11:08):
work that the state was doing, the state of Tennessee was doing
on foster care, which led to both a curiosity from their
standpoint of, well, how are youthinking about developing this?
And how can we share it more broadly across the state, which
is in process and still something that's working through
and will be launched, I would guess probably by the end of
(11:31):
this year or the early part of 2026.
And then that also led to the innovation labs getting an
opportunity to focus specifically on transition age
youth with the state and the work that we're doing, work that
we're doing now, you know, the, the university's position on
childhood goes well beyond that.That just opened a daycare as
well. So on the very, very front end,
(11:52):
right, we had now have a daycarethat's little Bruins that goes
into preschool and then we've got, you know, the campus and
now we're working on these aspects.
And I think this is a just a broader piece for us, you know,
of being Christ centered university as well that, you
know, there is a lot that we cango into about the importance of
(12:12):
children and the importance of youth.
And so I think it's a way in which it's not just something
we, you know, talk about throughthe theory, but it's things that
we're actually trying to work toimplement as well.
Sounds like the perfect timing. They like come in and there's
stuff going on the state level. So at the state level, there's
(12:34):
something called the Every ChildTennessee initiative that
applies to explain to listeners.And I'm wondering like what is
the Innovation Labs role in thatstatewide initiative?
Yeah. So we serve as a systems
innovation arm for one of the aspects of Focus for Every Child
Tennessee. Every Child Tennessee is a state
(12:54):
LED initiative through the Office of faith-based and
Community Initiatives, which is a direct appointment from the
governor. Governor Lee and his wife also
have a heart for youth and foster youth and they've
established A4 priority focus areas underneath Every Child
Tennessee. You can find out more about this
(13:16):
at the website where they're focusing on family preservation,
recruitment of new families, retention of families, and then
transition age foster youth. So those are the four priority
areas. Tennessee has roughly 8500 kids
and 4000 beds. We just simply do not have
enough beds. And so there's a statewide
(13:40):
effort to recruit and retain more of the families that come
in. A lot of work to be done in
those two spaces where the systems innovator for transition
age youth, as they were unpacking the four priority
areas, they did not have a real point of view on what to do or
what to focus on for transition age youth.
(14:01):
And there were a lot of things that were, you know,
subcommittees and different things that were happening, but
there wasn't a lot of clarity orfocus on the priority areas.
And then how do those priority areas map to pilot pilot
programs or specific capital investments that can be made
that start to improve the programming that's available for
(14:25):
this for this set of youth? And so we use our process that
we've developed along with a cross sector stakeholder group
which includes state partnershipproviders, youth and
philanthropists. And this transition council or
this leadership council helps ustranslate the research into
pilots and investment pathways. So the ideas that we have which
(14:51):
are grounded in that lived experience we talked about can
start to become invested in and start to be moved into state,
into the state, whether that's through existing programming
providers or new ones that we have to encourage to encourage
to come here. It's interesting because I think
(15:11):
sometimes when we think about kind of scholarship and
research, we think, oh, it was like done and, and now we know
on paper. And it's beautiful to me to hear
like, OK, we did the research and we're, we're trying to
figure it out. We're trying and we're actually
putting that into action. And so it's an interesting time
to hear like how you are learning and applying that.
And I'm wondering if you can tell us about the impact and
(15:32):
investment case that recently came out and what it is.
Why did this research get conducted?
Yeah. So one of the things you just
touched on is what we also philosophically believe we want
to be one of the best places forwhat we call translational
research or applied research. We are not an R1 university.
We're teaching college. What we want to do is we want to
(15:55):
understand what's the leverage point in the system?
Where is it the most broken thatneeds fixing?
And then how do we scan the marketplace for the best
supporting research that's already been done that helps us
with that. And then what are the models
from around the country that arebeing used and how do we help
bring those things together? You know, innovation for me is
(16:18):
different than invention. Innovation is typically bringing
things together that haven't been together before more than
invention, which is it hasn't ever existed before.
And so we think of a lot about partnering and bringing things
together as being incredibly good pathways for this space.
Let's not recreate the wheel, soto speak.
(16:40):
So the impact in investment caseis the second piece of a, of a
series of pieces of work that wedo through our process.
It's considered a field guide for action.
We built it through the first phase of our research was to
identify what are the broken parts of the system from those
with lived experience. That's what we call the
(17:00):
landscape study. They identified 3 areas of need,
supportive adult relationships, mental health care in a delivery
format that works for me, and affordable and safe housing,
which then we went into a secondphase of OK, let's design what
the state of Tennessee really needs.
And in this particular case, we found that there were affordable
(17:22):
housing leaders who are ready tomake investments and they're
partnering with programming partners.
And then also on the mental health and the relationships
we're going to, we're raising aninnovation fund to where we can
go out and find the best of the best that focus on supporting
foster age youth in those spaces, bring them to Tennessee
(17:43):
if they're not already here, andthen create partnerships between
them and the Department of Childhood Services.
And so this impact case is really a summarization of the
need where investment can be themost catalytic and lays out the
ready to launch pilots, which we're currently raising for now.
(18:03):
Also some measurement criteria that we plan to use on how we'll
measure outcomes. And really it gives funders,
providers and public leaders a guide, right, that they can take
and say, OK, we can move forwardon this.
What I've found in my conversations, you know, that's
been I guess, challenging for me, but an opportunity for this
(18:23):
is that transition age youth just don't get a lot of focus,
unfortunately. And hopefully this can act as a
guide that's not just state of Tennessee, but can be a guide
that's more national and potentially even international
in its findings. It's incredible.
And I wonder, Tom, in the research, because we're going to
(18:44):
talk about like the findings andthe recommendations of what
you're hoping the research provides.
But I'm curious, completing my own research study, right?
It's like, OK, this what we did,but like when we look at the
bigger pictures. So I'm thinking your data set is
more Tennessee specific. And then maybe did you look at
some national things that were going on and that's where some
of your what we can do like solution thing is coming from?
Yeah. So as we looked at where has
(19:06):
research already been done, whatwe found in a lot of our work
had already been done either at Harvard or on the West Coast.
Any EKCA lot of the organizations that have been
doing National Research for a long period of time, we went
deep and queried in their work, you know, TCU, others that have
(19:27):
done work in this space for a long time.
You'll see it referenced in our work.
We're overlaying that with the Tennessee context of the data
that's specific to the state. But in the conversations we had
with the youth, what we ended upfinding is a lot of what they
were saying has been has been down on paper for a period of
(19:48):
time. And so now we're just trying to
bring some consistent focus against it and just not
deviating from what we've heard to see if we can get some
things, get some more significant programming and some
more significant dollars in motion for them.
Yeah. It's really the traction of like
these aren't new, new findings. It's more just how are we
(20:10):
addressing, it's been kind of a chronic issue.
And so can you share any of the recommendations that are being
made as part of what the research found or?
Sure. Yeah, I'd be happy to.
I mean, you know, I mentioned them just a few minutes ago.
I mean, the gaps and kept comingup over and over.
It was said in different ways, but this idea of a supportive
(20:30):
adult relationship is by far andaway one of the most significant
indicators for a child being able to navigate to adulthood in
some level of opportunity versussome level of continued
struggle. That relationship, you know, I,
I don't define it with words like mentorship or things like
(20:52):
that because it's, it can be in a lot of cases more than that.
This is for youth that obviouslydid not find a forever home
through their journey and need someone to walk with them for a
whole series of life related things that come up right.
I have a 17 year old daughter thinking about launching her
(21:12):
into the world and I'm like, OK,but she knows she has somebody
that she can call where if it's like I don't know what to do
with the leaky sink or I don't know how to file for an
application for an apartment or I don't know how to cook a
particular meal or like, where do I go for this?
Oh, I didn't know car insurance was a thing.
You actually have to have car insurance.
You know, like these things thattrip and they're so varied that
(21:35):
it's hard to then go to a specific set of next
recommendations on what these youth need because it's, it's as
unique as they are in terms of what they're interfacing with.
So that was #1 far and away, we need more programs which are
finding safe ways for adults to connect with with youth.
(21:55):
And then it was access to A to effective mental health care.
There's a lot of opportunity in that space.
It's really in the it's also in the delivery format that works
for them. And I think there's a lot of
innovation potential here, right?
Just because, you know, they need therapeutic help navigating
the trauma that they've been through.
(22:16):
And so, but expecting them to goto an office and be on time at
an appointment across this particular period of time
because this is the person that will take reimbursable insurance
is a challenge. And so I think there's a lot of
opportunity there with a lot of different models that are
starting to emerge. And then more safe and
affordable housing. I mean, this is a chronic issue
(22:38):
in the United States across a lot of different vulnerable
populations, but foster youth inparticular face this one
acutely. How do we make sure that they
have a place to stay as they transition, as they transition
out? So we map what we call pathways
to impact across, you know, somequick wins.
(23:01):
You know, we, we're working through some pilots that we
intend to scale, but we're in the, you know, the investable
pilot phase one is an affordablehousing unit, which is
previously an A senior living assisted living facility.
It's going to be converted of 18doors.
Key thing here is it's a partnership with provider who's
(23:24):
going to provide the care at theresidential house for
relationships and mental health care and workforce development.
So that'll be integrated into the property versus being
external to the property that. In their spell top, is that like
a? Facility, that's actually the
first one's going to be in Knoxville.
Nice. But the developer has property
(23:45):
identified in Metro Nashville, Memphis and Chattanooga.
So if we can get the, if we can get the model right, then
there's an eye towards, there's an eye towards scale.
That is so cool. I get so excited about like
seeing things repurpose, but also like meeting a need with
(24:06):
like this is so practical and and very, very doable.
And so your team specifically what, like what you're, you're
trying out these pilots, just trying to get funding and that
kind of thing. But what would you say are your
team's next steps related to supporting youth transitioning
from the foster care system? Like, how do you all decide what
you're going to do in the next month, three months, Six months?
Yeah. Well, a lot of it's based on,
(24:28):
based on the work that we've done so far.
And we're going to be working with the the real estate
developer and the programming partner to document the approach
that's taking place in Knoxvillewith the intent of repurposing
that, sharing that as a, as a guide or a playbook, so to
speak, where other capital allocators in other spaces can
(24:49):
can leverage that. We've had some interest from
Kentucky and we've had some interest in some other states
that are also looking at that assomething that's that's
interesting for anybody that gets a, you know, maybe that
this hits a real estate developer grid.
You know, this is 1 where we're looking at it being not fully
market rate in terms of its return, but it does return, you
know, so it's not just full philanthropy.
(25:11):
And that's been a part of the developer's desire from the
beginning. And so it's a blended capital
model. And so we want to document that
and be able to share that in terms of what what made that a
success. And then we're also running
innovation fund, which is a fundwe're raising to then attract
and draw organizations to the state that serve these other
(25:34):
needs. And that'll be kind of a reverse
pitch competition. We want to use the convening
power of Belmont to be able to have an event where we'll do an
open application, we'll have a community based stakeholder
group review the applicants and we'll make somewhere between 50
to $150,000 grants to organizations that fit the needs
(25:54):
that we have in the state. They go to work over the course
of the year. We walk with them as they're
doing that work and then based on successful completion or
stand up of their process and approach, then we'll connect
them directly with second round funders or with the state.
From ADCS perspective, the idea there is how do we help de risk
(26:15):
the marketplace for our leaders in DCS who don't have the time,
don't have the time or the process in place to scan the
market for all the providers or organizations that could be
providing solutions and get somehelp for them to help navigate
these specific these specific needs that we've we've heard
(26:37):
from the youth. OK.
So my strategy mind has a couplequestions for you.
One is of the cities that you mentioned, how did you all
prioritize which one to start in?
Like why Knoxville? Is there a higher concentration
of population need or how did you decide?
No, actually it was the most flexible city.
So the city's putting in $1,000,000 to help and also had
(26:58):
the most flexible voucher vouchering from the HUD.
So this is based on a voucher and youth can use to offset the
cost of housing go. I could go into a long thing
about vouchering, I won't hear. But normally vouchers are place
based with the youth and they travel with the youth and so the
(27:20):
landlord has to decide to use them.
But as the youth travels then the voucher travels.
The innovation here was the vouchers have been turned into
place based vouchers so they stay with the property.
Well, youth can use those for three years.
They need to stay there for three years and that helps
subsidized, that helps subsidized the property.
(27:41):
So there was some real innovation that the, the, the
leader of this affordable housing organization, which is
the capital allocator for the, for the funding for the, for the
property has been working in DC and in Knoxville to make this
become a reality that will help us then have conversations in
other cities about the ability to do it.
(28:04):
The need is pretty, I mean it's,it's pretty highly concentrated
as you would think to to urban, urban population centers, but
it's not specific to, it's not specific to Knoxville.
Okay, that makes a lot of sense.And then just so our listeners
are following, so think I made an assumption earlier.
Sorry, listeners and our call. Because when we're talking about
youth, I know that there's like an extended foster care model.
(28:26):
And since every state's a littlebit different, I'm like, does
your foster care programming supports end at 18/21/23?
Can you kind of give the like when we're talking about youth
right now, what age range are you talking about?
Yeah, the youth, when we say youth aging out of care, that's
the traditional care. So when they turn 18, when they
reach their 18th birthday and become adults, the state of
(28:49):
Tennessee now applies an extension of foster care where
you can apply for an extension of foster care benefits up to
23. And there are some certain
parameters that you have to meetin order to remain eligible.
And that's the window for the extension of foster care.
So when we say transition age youth, we, we, what we're
referring to is youth that are approaching their 18th birthday.
(29:12):
Now, whether they decide to stayon extension or they decide to
separate from the program completely, we haven't looked
into anything specific between those two decision points.
This is more just about what do they need as they become
recognized as adults. The important point I want to
just make sure listeners are following because this is where
(29:33):
the graphic novel that comes outwith the 26th, 27th school year
is about a character, female character who it's her senior of
high school when she turns 18. And that's usually how this
happens. You're either a junior senior,
you're not done with school at all and like poof, your your
your sports are all gone. So it's it's a really important.
I can't like stress enough what Belmont's doing here to help
meet a need. And, and I'm curious the other
(29:54):
strategy question, Tom, that I'mwondering is you talked about
this like reverse pitch. Do you all do anything else on
campus? Because I'm thinking like, I
know a lot of like incubators inthe Saint Louis market that like
you come and pitch and they giveyou a grant.
That's like what the entire organization does is they help
businesses get launched. I I know you all do a lot for
entrepreneurship, but do you actually host other things like
(30:14):
this that you're awarding grants?
This is going to be one of the first ones where we're awarding
grants of this size. We have we have hackathons with
our data science and AI collaborative.
We also have entrepreneurship events, but this will be the
first one where we're trying to incite public partner, public
(30:36):
private partnership. It's an easy 1 to get out right
now and using Belmont's convening ability to bring
together organizations that havethe potential to solve our need
with those who have the capital and or the authority to make
decisions to put those organizations to work.
(31:01):
And we feel like it's a bottle we've lifted from a partner of
ours up in Louisville, KY. And he's done this several times
in the Louisville area in partnership with the University
of Louisville. And so it's another one of these
lift in place models that we've that we found that's providing
early stage seed funding to innovation in these social
(31:25):
spaces. And this is just not a space
that gets the attention of the VC community because typically
what we're talking about here might be more like venture
philanthropy and venture capitalbecause these are grants to
begin with that may have follow on rounds.
If they're for profit, that could be capital or they could
be continued rounds of philanthropic funding.
(31:49):
So again, that's also very innovative as I've tried to
explain that to potential investors.
The idea of using venture capital skill sets to think
about the way we do philanthropyis pretty new to a lot of folks.
And yet highly sustainable because then you're not just
(32:10):
relying on on that philanthropy year after year.
So I'm very commendable, Tom. I'm very excited.
So how can listeners help in your work?
So I think there's lanes for, I mean there's lanes for a lot of
people, capital allocators or people that are thinking about
philanthropic funding or foundation or leading
foundations can help Co fund thechallenge.
They can reach out, have some conversation there.
(32:31):
It's in the impact case, innovators that are online or
people that know of innovators specifically in these areas that
we mentioned can also point themtowards the there's an e-mail
address in the impact case whichwill lead you to the ability to
register for an announcement on the opening of the fund.
If you're interested in scaling your solution to the state of
(32:53):
Tennessee, that would be something that we'd be very
interested in. And then I think, you know,
individuals that have a heart for the space that aren't
already in the space. I think finding ways to get
engaged with these youth. Casa is a great organization.
We spend a lot of time with them.
(33:14):
Your local, you know, House of worship or your local church
probably have ways in which you can get involved in support for
families who are fostering or families who are adopting
through wrap around programs. You know, any of those ways
would be would be great ways to connect and engage This
(33:35):
population desperately needs more people available to walk
with them. I mean, that's one of the things
we've seen. And so every pretty much
everybody can find ways to do that.
Yeah, and some of it's just finding that connection point.
I know listeners, if you're likeI, I just don't know what to do.
Tom mentioned an organization cost that seems for court
appointed special advocate, you essentially get to help be an
(33:57):
advocate on behalf of the child or sibling group in a court
setting. It requires a bit of training,
but that's something that you can do without needing to show
up as a foster parent or an adoptive parent.
And even as as Tom's mentioning,some of these wrap around
services a lot of places have like foster closets and foster
pantries, like food, things likethat.
And they always need volunteers.And sometimes that means like
you're going to pick up the donation of food from somewhere
(34:17):
or clothing from somewhere you're sorting it.
A lot of them are very flexible opportunities.
So it's not like you have to commit to the next, you know, 30
years of your life to show up onevery, you know, Friday night,
Like there's great opportunitiesto do that.
And so, Tom, you've given us some great ideas and it's
exciting to see and learn about.OK, well, this, this is how
we've assessed and this is how we're going to figure out how to
(34:38):
solve problems. Since I really appreciate you
and the leadership you've taken listeners, I will tell you, Tom,
what is rolled ballot? What did you tell me like a year
and a half by now? It's, it's still very fresh and
it's, it's a role that didn't exist before.
And so it's been so fun to note to be be an alum of Belmont, but
to furthermore, just to see how Tom is charting waters in places
(35:01):
that are very much needed but are very much uncharted.
So Tom, I think we're excited toto stay kind of behind you and,
and watch what's going on and hopefully join you in, in
celebrating those successes and connecting you.
So thank you so, so much for being on here.
Yeah, it's been, it's been my pleasure.
It's you know, it's been great to get a chance to know you and
(35:22):
the community that you're building.
You're an incredible asset and reference for us in terms of
like putting us in track with people that we could learn from,
especially early in the process.And to know that that's that's
really important to you. You know, we, we step into this
work with a lot of humility. We also recognize that, you
(35:45):
know, there's a lot of people out there that are spending
their days trying to support this group of youth and that
goes, you know, so unrecognized.And so, you know, a lot of it.
What we're trying to do is we'retrying to continue to bring
awareness, raise awareness to the issue and to the need, try
(36:06):
to get more capital flowing in the right direction to where
more support can be provided. So thank you for having me and
thank you for the work that you're doing.
Really appreciate it. Thank you so much for spending
time with. US.
It truly matters that you listentoday because by tuning in,
(36:27):
you're opening your heart to thestories of children in foster
care, sparking empathy and starting to see how your unique
role, whether as a friend, advocate, or even as a future
adoptive parent, can bring hope and belonging to a child or
sibling group that is waiting. I also want to personally invite
you to reach out to me to ask anything that's on your heart.
I promise no judgement. You can find me on Facebook,
(36:49):
LinkedIn and Instagram. And I mean it when I say you can
ask anything. I know it can feel awkward to
ask questions publicly and that's why I carve out time
during my lunch hour and evenings while my kids and
husband are at martial arts to mentor others one-on-one.
Your questions matter, your curiosity matters, and most
importantly, the role you are playing in helping children in
foster care matters. Together we can bring hope and
(37:12):
longing. Until next time, take care and
keep the conversation going.
We really should have waiting parents, not waiting children.
Over 100,000 children are available for adoption through
the US foster care system and 27% don't have anyone like a
relative or foster parent, in the process of adopting them.
60% are between the ages of fiveand 17.
And two. Thirds are part of sibling
groups of two to eight children.Hey listener, my name is Marcy
(00:27):
Bursack. My husband and I chose Adoption
is our Plan A. After blogging about our journey
adopting A sibling pair, I beganmentoring families right in my
own living room. That passion grew into the
Forgotten Adoption Option, a nonprofit and now lead as a
volunteer while working full time in the tech industry.
From my blog, Three Books App and Classroom Lesson to now a 45
minute course called Foster CareAdoption Simplified, which you
(00:50):
can find at forgottenadoptionoption.com,
I've created practical, heartfelt resources to help
families navigate the foster care adoption process.
As you listen to this episode, Iencourage you to ask yourself,
who in my circle needs to hear this?
It's often people in what we call helper professions.
People like therapists, nurses, doctors, police officers,
(01:11):
firefighters, social workers. And teachers like my husband.
These are the people who tend tostep forward to adopt children
from foster care. But this work isn't only about
becoming an adoptive family. It's also about becoming an
advocate and ally. Every waiting child deserves not
just a forever family, but a community of people who champion
their future. Whatever LED you to this
(01:33):
podcast, I am thrilled that you were here.
My mission is simple, to help every waiting child be with
their forever family. And that's exactly why I host
this podcast. Welcome to the Forgotten
Adoption Option podcast. In this episode, we'll be
discussing evolving support for youth transitioning from the
(01:56):
foster care system. Tom and I met through an
introduction from Chip Painter, who was an undergraduate student
at the same time as me at Belmont University.
Belmont is located in Nashville,TN and is very involved at the
state level with Governor Bill Lee in transforming the outcomes
for children and youth in fostercare.
You might remember Anthony Donovan, who was a former boss
of mine when I was a resident assistant at Belmont.
(02:16):
He's Belmont's associate Dean ofstudents and director of
residence life. He came on and talked about
tailoring the needs of first generation college students in
Season 3. So if you haven't heard that,
feel free to go back and play that.
So Chip and I reconnected as he began working in alumni
relations at Belmont and immediately was like, you have
to meet Tom. So, hey, Tom.
(02:37):
Hey, Tom. So, yeah, you're welcome.
Tom is such an interesting person.
So, OK, right now he's the director of Strategy and
Development for Belmont Innovation Labs, but he has over
2 decades of experience in business leadership and
launching market innovations to social impact space.
And at Belmont, he works with students, leaders and
organizations on new approaches to generating positive social
(02:59):
impact. What I think is really
intriguing is Tom like did this whole corporate world thing and
was like, I'm going to go just like work with this, this
university and like create a bunch of change.
It's, it's just a very interesting story.
I'll get to hear more of his background.
But the Innovation Lab recently released their Impact and
investment case, which is focused on evolving support for
system change, capital innovation, and leadership
transformation to support youth transitioning out of the foster
(03:23):
care system, which is really important and so much needed.
So we really wanted to share these insights with you, which
is why we're having this episode.
So Tom, perhaps the place to start is why on earth did you
end up leaving corporate America, ending up at Belmont?
And why do you care so much about children in the foster
care system? Yeah, I'm happy to answer that.
Thanks again for having me, Marcy.
(03:43):
It's been great to spend time with you and and get a chance to
meet you and hear more about your story and what you've done.
Such a voice in this space. I came to Belmont to help build
cross sector solutions to hard problems.
I've been in innovation for 25 years, as you mentioned, and I
felt like innovation and the practice of innovation has a lot
(04:06):
to apply in the social space forsystemic issues that a lot of
our most vulnerable fall into. I'm also an adoptive dad to an
11 year old along with two biological kids, so walked
closely with other adoptive families during that journey and
that lived experience, you know,obviously hits close to home.
(04:28):
On this particular work. We got engaged with the state of
Tennessee and I didn't know as much about transition age youth,
teenagers who hit adulthood without what they need.
And through this, through this project, become really engaged
and involved in trying to come up with solutions that help them
(04:51):
transition into adulthood more effectively.
So it's really like Co creating a solution is what it sounds
like. It's not like how we're going to
decide this for you. Yes, for sure.
I mean we'll get into a little bit of the philosophy that I
ground in our innovation practice in and that's primarily
based around lived experience. And so when we think about any
(05:12):
innovation that we want to take on, you know early in my career
was about user centricity or user centric design.
So how do we get close to the person that's experiencing or
using the product that we were developing?
And philosophically, that's whatwe've centered our process on
that we're developing now, whichis how do we spend enough time
(05:33):
with those who have lived experience to understand what
the patterns are that we can identify and the needs that they
have, And then merge that with people of influence and
authority who have the ability to do something about it, but
maybe not have the lived experience.
(05:54):
Important because to be able to hear kind of directly from
what's, what's going on there. So I want to rewind for a
second. So you mentioned you have a son
that's adopted that's 11 and I think our listeners are going,
OK, the two other kids like what's what's birth order?
When when did you adopt in the birth order?
Yeah. So our oldest is 17 year old
girl who's in her senior year atRavenwood looking at Belmont as
(06:15):
one of her options, which is great, but others as well.
And then we have a 14 year old son.
So we had two older children before we adopted.
We, you know, we were on a journey of would we have a 3rd
And having that conversation as a couple.
And I read a book, Radical, and it completely changed my
(06:38):
perspective in terms, of, you know, how we should think about
what expanding our family shouldlook like.
We explored international, but birth order was important to us.
And so we ended up in domestic adoption through Bethany
Christian Services. We were living in Indiana at the
time. And yeah, about a year and a
(06:59):
half after publishing our our book about our family, we, we
met Kohl's mom. And yeah, we ended up taking him
home from the hospital on April 2nd of 2014.
Beautiful story. Fun fact, I actually my early
days in kind of following my heart in the adoption space.
(07:19):
I actually was on the board in my local chapter, Bethany
Christian Services for a bit. So interesting thing to have in
common. Yeah, thanks for explaining that
because it's always interesting to hear kind of like, OK, when
did that kind of come into your your family sequence and how did
that go? And so I know Bellma's doing
some significantly innovative things, specifically in foster
care, which gets me so jazzed up.
(07:39):
And I'm sure like you're going to have every day and doing this
for work. So like, it's, it's like right
there in front of you. And I know staff can attend
licensing classes on campus during the work day.
And then you all have specific scholarships and support systems
that have been established to support students who have aged
out of the foster care system. And listeners, my new book has
(08:00):
just come out by the time you'rehearing this called It's OK to
talk about adoption. And there's way a deep dive on
this. And there it's such an important
model. But I'm curious if you can tell
us like about these programs, because they're, to me, they're
like the thing all of us should be doing.
Yes, I mean that was one of the things that, you know, through
President Jones and his wife's leadership, you know, youth is
extremely important, not just because we're a university
(08:22):
educating the next generation, but holistically and fostering
adoption. Adoption was pretty prevalent in
our employee handbook, giving people space and time.
Also, you know, having program specific both to families,
mostly to families that were that were adopting, but Foster
(08:42):
was a missing component, right? And so went through a process of
the identification of what should the the handbook elements
be for staff and faculty. And then what should the
curricular components be in terms of how do we teach in some
of the classroom where we do have case study examples like in
the College of Social Work that should include Foster as as part
(09:03):
of the program? And then how do we think about
the campus facilities once we start to have Foster youth
attend the university, which we do have several.
In fact, one of the youth that we met through our through our
program with the state just started her freshman year
(09:23):
through the College of Law. And that's such a small
percentage of youth to get the opportunity to do that.
But then when they're on campus,what happens at Christmas when
the dorms close or what happens in the summer?
And now they're forced into where am I going to stay?
Which, as we've talked with others, their journey had been
disrupted. They got to college, and then it
(09:44):
was significantly disrupted because they ended up having to
become homeless or home hopping while they were trying to
navigate the holidays. And so we're looking at ways in
which the campus can be what we call, you know, foster friendly.
We know that terms used in the space, but how do we think about
that? And then how do we share that
with other universities around the state to help them
(10:06):
understand what the potential there is, You know, in the
journey of a youth that goes through foster care and doesn't
have a forever home that, you know, the the statistics on
their ability to get to post secondary are really low.
But if they get that opportunityand that does become a path for
them, how can we be receptive inan environment where they can
(10:27):
have the best, best chance to succeed?
Huge need. And yet, you know, like it's
just, I get so proud of Belmont of like, OK, we're all we're
just like, Oh well, someone should.
It's like, no, let's let's go tothis.
And I'm very curious, Tom, like I don't know if you were there
at this time, but why all of a sudden was there sort of this
analysis saying, OK, we have adoption written into some of
these things. Why isn't foster care?
(10:48):
Like who? Who had that question or how did
that even kind of come up? Yeah, leadership, I mean,
President and First Lady Jones have had a heart for this for a
long time before they were at Belmont, You know.
So that started our desire to unpack this more as a
university. And then that coincided with the
(11:08):
work that the state was doing, the state of Tennessee was doing
on foster care, which led to both a curiosity from their
standpoint of, well, how are youthinking about developing this?
And how can we share it more broadly across the state, which
is in process and still something that's working through
and will be launched, I would guess probably by the end of
(11:31):
this year or the early part of 2026.
And then that also led to the innovation labs getting an
opportunity to focus specifically on transition age
youth with the state and the work that we're doing, work that
we're doing now, you know, the, the university's position on
childhood goes well beyond that.That just opened a daycare as
well. So on the very, very front end,
(11:52):
right, we had now have a daycarethat's little Bruins that goes
into preschool and then we've got, you know, the campus and
now we're working on these aspects.
And I think this is a just a broader piece for us, you know,
of being Christ centered university as well that, you
know, there is a lot that we cango into about the importance of
(12:12):
children and the importance of youth.
And so I think it's a way in which it's not just something
we, you know, talk about throughthe theory, but it's things that
we're actually trying to work toimplement as well.
Sounds like the perfect timing. They like come in and there's
stuff going on the state level. So at the state level, there's
(12:34):
something called the Every ChildTennessee initiative that
applies to explain to listeners.And I'm wondering like what is
the Innovation Labs role in thatstatewide initiative?
Yeah. So we serve as a systems
innovation arm for one of the aspects of Focus for Every Child
Tennessee. Every Child Tennessee is a state
(12:54):
LED initiative through the Office of faith-based and
Community Initiatives, which is a direct appointment from the
governor. Governor Lee and his wife also
have a heart for youth and foster youth and they've
established A4 priority focus areas underneath Every Child
Tennessee. You can find out more about this
(13:16):
at the website where they're focusing on family preservation,
recruitment of new families, retention of families, and then
transition age foster youth. So those are the four priority
areas. Tennessee has roughly 8500 kids
and 4000 beds. We just simply do not have
enough beds. And so there's a statewide
(13:40):
effort to recruit and retain more of the families that come
in. A lot of work to be done in
those two spaces where the systems innovator for transition
age youth, as they were unpacking the four priority
areas, they did not have a real point of view on what to do or
what to focus on for transition age youth.
(14:01):
And there were a lot of things that were, you know,
subcommittees and different things that were happening, but
there wasn't a lot of clarity orfocus on the priority areas.
And then how do those priority areas map to pilot pilot
programs or specific capital investments that can be made
that start to improve the programming that's available for
(14:25):
this for this set of youth? And so we use our process that
we've developed along with a cross sector stakeholder group
which includes state partnershipproviders, youth and
philanthropists. And this transition council or
this leadership council helps ustranslate the research into
pilots and investment pathways. So the ideas that we have which
(14:51):
are grounded in that lived experience we talked about can
start to become invested in and start to be moved into state,
into the state, whether that's through existing programming
providers or new ones that we have to encourage to encourage
to come here. It's interesting because I think
(15:11):
sometimes when we think about kind of scholarship and
research, we think, oh, it was like done and, and now we know
on paper. And it's beautiful to me to hear
like, OK, we did the research and we're, we're trying to
figure it out. We're trying and we're actually
putting that into action. And so it's an interesting time
to hear like how you are learning and applying that.
And I'm wondering if you can tell us about the impact and
(15:32):
investment case that recently came out and what it is.
Why did this research get conducted?
Yeah. So one of the things you just
touched on is what we also philosophically believe we want
to be one of the best places forwhat we call translational
research or applied research. We are not an R1 university.
We're teaching college. What we want to do is we want to
(15:55):
understand what's the leverage point in the system?
Where is it the most broken thatneeds fixing?
And then how do we scan the marketplace for the best
supporting research that's already been done that helps us
with that. And then what are the models
from around the country that arebeing used and how do we help
bring those things together? You know, innovation for me is
(16:18):
different than invention. Innovation is typically bringing
things together that haven't been together before more than
invention, which is it hasn't ever existed before.
And so we think of a lot about partnering and bringing things
together as being incredibly good pathways for this space.
Let's not recreate the wheel, soto speak.
(16:40):
So the impact in investment caseis the second piece of a, of a
series of pieces of work that wedo through our process.
It's considered a field guide for action.
We built it through the first phase of our research was to
identify what are the broken parts of the system from those
with lived experience. That's what we call the
(17:00):
landscape study. They identified 3 areas of need,
supportive adult relationships, mental health care in a delivery
format that works for me, and affordable and safe housing,
which then we went into a secondphase of OK, let's design what
the state of Tennessee really needs.
And in this particular case, we found that there were affordable
(17:22):
housing leaders who are ready tomake investments and they're
partnering with programming partners.
And then also on the mental health and the relationships
we're going to, we're raising aninnovation fund to where we can
go out and find the best of the best that focus on supporting
foster age youth in those spaces, bring them to Tennessee
(17:43):
if they're not already here, andthen create partnerships between
them and the Department of Childhood Services.
And so this impact case is really a summarization of the
need where investment can be themost catalytic and lays out the
ready to launch pilots, which we're currently raising for now.
(18:03):
Also some measurement criteria that we plan to use on how we'll
measure outcomes. And really it gives funders,
providers and public leaders a guide, right, that they can take
and say, OK, we can move forwardon this.
What I've found in my conversations, you know, that's
been I guess, challenging for me, but an opportunity for this
(18:23):
is that transition age youth just don't get a lot of focus,
unfortunately. And hopefully this can act as a
guide that's not just state of Tennessee, but can be a guide
that's more national and potentially even international
in its findings. It's incredible.
And I wonder, Tom, in the research, because we're going to
(18:44):
talk about like the findings andthe recommendations of what
you're hoping the research provides.
But I'm curious, completing my own research study, right?
It's like, OK, this what we did,but like when we look at the
bigger pictures. So I'm thinking your data set is
more Tennessee specific. And then maybe did you look at
some national things that were going on and that's where some
of your what we can do like solution thing is coming from?
Yeah. So as we looked at where has
(19:06):
research already been done, whatwe found in a lot of our work
had already been done either at Harvard or on the West Coast.
Any EKCA lot of the organizations that have been
doing National Research for a long period of time, we went
deep and queried in their work, you know, TCU, others that have
(19:27):
done work in this space for a long time.
You'll see it referenced in our work.
We're overlaying that with the Tennessee context of the data
that's specific to the state. But in the conversations we had
with the youth, what we ended upfinding is a lot of what they
were saying has been has been down on paper for a period of
(19:48):
time. And so now we're just trying to
bring some consistent focus against it and just not
deviating from what we've heard to see if we can get some
things, get some more significant programming and some
more significant dollars in motion for them.
Yeah. It's really the traction of like
these aren't new, new findings. It's more just how are we
(20:10):
addressing, it's been kind of a chronic issue.
And so can you share any of the recommendations that are being
made as part of what the research found or?
Sure. Yeah, I'd be happy to.
I mean, you know, I mentioned them just a few minutes ago.
I mean, the gaps and kept comingup over and over.
It was said in different ways, but this idea of a supportive
(20:30):
adult relationship is by far andaway one of the most significant
indicators for a child being able to navigate to adulthood in
some level of opportunity versussome level of continued
struggle. That relationship, you know, I,
I don't define it with words like mentorship or things like
(20:52):
that because it's, it can be in a lot of cases more than that.
This is for youth that obviouslydid not find a forever home
through their journey and need someone to walk with them for a
whole series of life related things that come up right.
I have a 17 year old daughter thinking about launching her
(21:12):
into the world and I'm like, OK,but she knows she has somebody
that she can call where if it's like I don't know what to do
with the leaky sink or I don't know how to file for an
application for an apartment or I don't know how to cook a
particular meal or like, where do I go for this?
Oh, I didn't know car insurance was a thing.
You actually have to have car insurance.
You know, like these things thattrip and they're so varied that
(21:35):
it's hard to then go to a specific set of next
recommendations on what these youth need because it's, it's as
unique as they are in terms of what they're interfacing with.
So that was #1 far and away, we need more programs which are
finding safe ways for adults to connect with with youth.
(21:55):
And then it was access to A to effective mental health care.
There's a lot of opportunity in that space.
It's really in the it's also in the delivery format that works
for them. And I think there's a lot of
innovation potential here, right?
Just because, you know, they need therapeutic help navigating
the trauma that they've been through.
(22:16):
And so, but expecting them to goto an office and be on time at
an appointment across this particular period of time
because this is the person that will take reimbursable insurance
is a challenge. And so I think there's a lot of
opportunity there with a lot of different models that are
starting to emerge. And then more safe and
affordable housing. I mean, this is a chronic issue
(22:38):
in the United States across a lot of different vulnerable
populations, but foster youth inparticular face this one
acutely. How do we make sure that they
have a place to stay as they transition, as they transition
out? So we map what we call pathways
to impact across, you know, somequick wins.
(23:01):
You know, we, we're working through some pilots that we
intend to scale, but we're in the, you know, the investable
pilot phase one is an affordablehousing unit, which is
previously an A senior living assisted living facility.
It's going to be converted of 18doors.
Key thing here is it's a partnership with provider who's
(23:24):
going to provide the care at theresidential house for
relationships and mental health care and workforce development.
So that'll be integrated into the property versus being
external to the property that. In their spell top, is that like
a? Facility, that's actually the
first one's going to be in Knoxville.
Nice. But the developer has property
(23:45):
identified in Metro Nashville, Memphis and Chattanooga.
So if we can get the, if we can get the model right, then
there's an eye towards, there's an eye towards scale.
That is so cool. I get so excited about like
seeing things repurpose, but also like meeting a need with
(24:06):
like this is so practical and and very, very doable.
And so your team specifically what, like what you're, you're
trying out these pilots, just trying to get funding and that
kind of thing. But what would you say are your
team's next steps related to supporting youth transitioning
from the foster care system? Like, how do you all decide what
you're going to do in the next month, three months, Six months?
Yeah. Well, a lot of it's based on,
(24:28):
based on the work that we've done so far.
And we're going to be working with the the real estate
developer and the programming partner to document the approach
that's taking place in Knoxvillewith the intent of repurposing
that, sharing that as a, as a guide or a playbook, so to
speak, where other capital allocators in other spaces can
(24:49):
can leverage that. We've had some interest from
Kentucky and we've had some interest in some other states
that are also looking at that assomething that's that's
interesting for anybody that gets a, you know, maybe that
this hits a real estate developer grid.
You know, this is 1 where we're looking at it being not fully
market rate in terms of its return, but it does return, you
know, so it's not just full philanthropy.
(25:11):
And that's been a part of the developer's desire from the
beginning. And so it's a blended capital
model. And so we want to document that
and be able to share that in terms of what what made that a
success. And then we're also running
innovation fund, which is a fundwe're raising to then attract
and draw organizations to the state that serve these other
(25:34):
needs. And that'll be kind of a reverse
pitch competition. We want to use the convening
power of Belmont to be able to have an event where we'll do an
open application, we'll have a community based stakeholder
group review the applicants and we'll make somewhere between 50
to $150,000 grants to organizations that fit the needs
(25:54):
that we have in the state. They go to work over the course
of the year. We walk with them as they're
doing that work and then based on successful completion or
stand up of their process and approach, then we'll connect
them directly with second round funders or with the state.
From ADCS perspective, the idea there is how do we help de risk
(26:15):
the marketplace for our leaders in DCS who don't have the time,
don't have the time or the process in place to scan the
market for all the providers or organizations that could be
providing solutions and get somehelp for them to help navigate
these specific these specific needs that we've we've heard
(26:37):
from the youth. OK.
So my strategy mind has a couplequestions for you.
One is of the cities that you mentioned, how did you all
prioritize which one to start in?
Like why Knoxville? Is there a higher concentration
of population need or how did you decide?
No, actually it was the most flexible city.
So the city's putting in $1,000,000 to help and also had
(26:58):
the most flexible voucher vouchering from the HUD.
So this is based on a voucher and youth can use to offset the
cost of housing go. I could go into a long thing
about vouchering, I won't hear. But normally vouchers are place
based with the youth and they travel with the youth and so the
(27:20):
landlord has to decide to use them.
But as the youth travels then the voucher travels.
The innovation here was the vouchers have been turned into
place based vouchers so they stay with the property.
Well, youth can use those for three years.
They need to stay there for three years and that helps
subsidized, that helps subsidized the property.
(27:41):
So there was some real innovation that the, the, the
leader of this affordable housing organization, which is
the capital allocator for the, for the funding for the, for the
property has been working in DC and in Knoxville to make this
become a reality that will help us then have conversations in
other cities about the ability to do it.
(28:04):
The need is pretty, I mean it's,it's pretty highly concentrated
as you would think to to urban, urban population centers, but
it's not specific to, it's not specific to Knoxville.
Okay, that makes a lot of sense.And then just so our listeners
are following, so think I made an assumption earlier.
Sorry, listeners and our call. Because when we're talking about
youth, I know that there's like an extended foster care model.
(28:26):
And since every state's a littlebit different, I'm like, does
your foster care programming supports end at 18/21/23?
Can you kind of give the like when we're talking about youth
right now, what age range are you talking about?
Yeah, the youth, when we say youth aging out of care, that's
the traditional care. So when they turn 18, when they
reach their 18th birthday and become adults, the state of
(28:49):
Tennessee now applies an extension of foster care where
you can apply for an extension of foster care benefits up to
23. And there are some certain
parameters that you have to meetin order to remain eligible.
And that's the window for the extension of foster care.
So when we say transition age youth, we, we, what we're
referring to is youth that are approaching their 18th birthday.
(29:12):
Now, whether they decide to stayon extension or they decide to
separate from the program completely, we haven't looked
into anything specific between those two decision points.
This is more just about what do they need as they become
recognized as adults. The important point I want to
just make sure listeners are following because this is where
(29:33):
the graphic novel that comes outwith the 26th, 27th school year
is about a character, female character who it's her senior of
high school when she turns 18. And that's usually how this
happens. You're either a junior senior,
you're not done with school at all and like poof, your your
your sports are all gone. So it's it's a really important.
I can't like stress enough what Belmont's doing here to help
meet a need. And, and I'm curious the other
(29:54):
strategy question, Tom, that I'mwondering is you talked about
this like reverse pitch. Do you all do anything else on
campus? Because I'm thinking like, I
know a lot of like incubators inthe Saint Louis market that like
you come and pitch and they giveyou a grant.
That's like what the entire organization does is they help
businesses get launched. I I know you all do a lot for
entrepreneurship, but do you actually host other things like
(30:14):
this that you're awarding grants?
This is going to be one of the first ones where we're awarding
grants of this size. We have we have hackathons with
our data science and AI collaborative.
We also have entrepreneurship events, but this will be the
first one where we're trying to incite public partner, public
(30:36):
private partnership. It's an easy 1 to get out right
now and using Belmont's convening ability to bring
together organizations that havethe potential to solve our need
with those who have the capital and or the authority to make
decisions to put those organizations to work.
(31:01):
And we feel like it's a bottle we've lifted from a partner of
ours up in Louisville, KY. And he's done this several times
in the Louisville area in partnership with the University
of Louisville. And so it's another one of these
lift in place models that we've that we found that's providing
early stage seed funding to innovation in these social
(31:25):
spaces. And this is just not a space
that gets the attention of the VC community because typically
what we're talking about here might be more like venture
philanthropy and venture capitalbecause these are grants to
begin with that may have follow on rounds.
If they're for profit, that could be capital or they could
be continued rounds of philanthropic funding.
(31:49):
So again, that's also very innovative as I've tried to
explain that to potential investors.
The idea of using venture capital skill sets to think
about the way we do philanthropyis pretty new to a lot of folks.
And yet highly sustainable because then you're not just
(32:10):
relying on on that philanthropy year after year.
So I'm very commendable, Tom. I'm very excited.
So how can listeners help in your work?
So I think there's lanes for, I mean there's lanes for a lot of
people, capital allocators or people that are thinking about
philanthropic funding or foundation or leading
foundations can help Co fund thechallenge.
They can reach out, have some conversation there.
(32:31):
It's in the impact case, innovators that are online or
people that know of innovators specifically in these areas that
we mentioned can also point themtowards the there's an e-mail
address in the impact case whichwill lead you to the ability to
register for an announcement on the opening of the fund.
If you're interested in scaling your solution to the state of
(32:53):
Tennessee, that would be something that we'd be very
interested in. And then I think, you know,
individuals that have a heart for the space that aren't
already in the space. I think finding ways to get
engaged with these youth. Casa is a great organization.
We spend a lot of time with them.
(33:14):
Your local, you know, House of worship or your local church
probably have ways in which you can get involved in support for
families who are fostering or families who are adopting
through wrap around programs. You know, any of those ways
would be would be great ways to connect and engage This
(33:35):
population desperately needs more people available to walk
with them. I mean, that's one of the things
we've seen. And so every pretty much
everybody can find ways to do that.
Yeah, and some of it's just finding that connection point.
I know listeners, if you're likeI, I just don't know what to do.
Tom mentioned an organization cost that seems for court
appointed special advocate, you essentially get to help be an
(33:57):
advocate on behalf of the child or sibling group in a court
setting. It requires a bit of training,
but that's something that you can do without needing to show
up as a foster parent or an adoptive parent.
And even as as Tom's mentioning,some of these wrap around
services a lot of places have like foster closets and foster
pantries, like food, things likethat.
And they always need volunteers.And sometimes that means like
you're going to pick up the donation of food from somewhere
(34:17):
or clothing from somewhere you're sorting it.
A lot of them are very flexible opportunities.
So it's not like you have to commit to the next, you know, 30
years of your life to show up onevery, you know, Friday night,
Like there's great opportunitiesto do that.
And so, Tom, you've given us some great ideas and it's
exciting to see and learn about.OK, well, this, this is how
we've assessed and this is how we're going to figure out how to
(34:38):
solve problems. Since I really appreciate you
and the leadership you've taken listeners, I will tell you, Tom,
what is rolled ballot? What did you tell me like a year
and a half by now? It's, it's still very fresh and
it's, it's a role that didn't exist before.
And so it's been so fun to note to be be an alum of Belmont, but
to furthermore, just to see how Tom is charting waters in places
(35:01):
that are very much needed but are very much uncharted.
So Tom, I think we're excited toto stay kind of behind you and,
and watch what's going on and hopefully join you in, in
celebrating those successes and connecting you.
So thank you so, so much for being on here.
Yeah, it's been, it's been my pleasure.
It's you know, it's been great to get a chance to know you and
(35:22):
the community that you're building.
You're an incredible asset and reference for us in terms of
like putting us in track with people that we could learn from,
especially early in the process.And to know that that's that's
really important to you. You know, we, we step into this
work with a lot of humility. We also recognize that, you
(35:45):
know, there's a lot of people out there that are spending
their days trying to support this group of youth and that
goes, you know, so unrecognized.And so, you know, a lot of it.
What we're trying to do is we'retrying to continue to bring
awareness, raise awareness to the issue and to the need, try
(36:06):
to get more capital flowing in the right direction to where
more support can be provided. So thank you for having me and
thank you for the work that you're doing.
Really appreciate it. Thank you so much for spending
time with. US.
It truly matters that you listentoday because by tuning in,
(36:27):
you're opening your heart to thestories of children in foster
care, sparking empathy and starting to see how your unique
role, whether as a friend, advocate, or even as a future
adoptive parent, can bring hope and belonging to a child or
sibling group that is waiting. I also want to personally invite
you to reach out to me to ask anything that's on your heart.
I promise no judgement. You can find me on Facebook,
(36:49):
LinkedIn and Instagram. And I mean it when I say you can
ask anything. I know it can feel awkward to
ask questions publicly and that's why I carve out time
during my lunch hour and evenings while my kids and
husband are at martial arts to mentor others one-on-one.
Your questions matter, your curiosity matters, and most
importantly, the role you are playing in helping children in
foster care matters. Together we can bring hope and
(37:12):
longing. Until next time, take care and
keep the conversation going.
Host
Marcy Bursac
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