Wilberson Jolly did not expect to graduate from high school.
As a teenager in foster care, Jolly went to high school in Park County, then in Lakewood, then in Wheat Ridge. He always felt behind, like he needed to re-learn almost everything going back to first grade.
It didn’t help that each time he changed foster homes, Jolly started a new high school. At 18, when his classmates were graduating, Jolly was not even close.
The odds were against him. Only 25% of Colorado students who were in foster care during high school graduate on time.
But last month, just shy of his 21st birthday, Jolly received his high school diploma. It was thanks mainly to a change in his “mindset,” he said, a change that wouldn’t have happened without a state-funded program that provides students in foster care with tutoring, social support and funds for extracurricular activities, including money to pay for musical instruments or soccer cleats.
Jolly was one of 46 former foster youth recently honored at a state child welfare and higher education event for receiving a high school diploma this year. The program, called Fostering Opportunities, began in Jefferson County as an experiment, then expanded to middle and high schools in Denver and Brighton in 2023. About 325 students who were in foster care participated last school year.
State funding for the program was cut by about $100,000, to $1.48 million, during this year’s legislative session as lawmakers struggled to close a massive budget hole. Money comes from the state general fund as well as the marijuana tax cash fund.
A second program for Colorado foster kids’ education, called FosterEd, has provided $4.6 million in college tuition to 1,106 students since it launched in the fall of 2022. About 260 students are currently attending higher education programs with the funding, which covers the total cost of attendance for students who were in foster care on or after their 13th birthday.
A University of Denver study that tracked the outcomes of 95 high school students in the Jefferson County pilot program for two years found that the students were less likely to miss school and more likely to pass their classes. They were also less likely to get suspended from school. The study did not produce significant data on graduation rates because there “were not enough students to determine with confidence” how it might help kids make it to graduation. Future research to answer that question is planned, however.
School districts using the program start by identifying students in foster care with the help of their county child welfare department. If students choose to participate, they are paired with a school district employee who meets with them regularly to offer guidance and motivation. Students can sign up for tutoring, counseling and funding for extracurricular activities and sports that would help keep them interested in school.
The goal is to close some of the disparity between students in foster homes and those living in an in-tact family, said Trevor Williams, youth services unit manager at the Colorado Department of Human Services.
For Jolly, it was the regular conversations with his Fostering Opportunities coordinator over two years that made him keep going. By the time he graduated, Jolly had a job at the discount clothing store Ross and was living on his own in a subsidized apartment. Now, he’s thinking about becoming a police officer.
“It helped me a lot because I had to keep pushing,” he said.
Jolly’s only regret is that he didn’t hear about the program sooner. “For future reference, they should bring it up to kids sooner instead of later,” he said. “As soon as you learn a kid is going into foster care, tell them about this program.”
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