I am heart-happy about Ohio's fifth annual Three Days on the Hill. ❤️❤️❤️
One thing really amazed and encouraged me during this year's trip to DC:
I had been anticipating and worrying that the growing political divide in our country might negatively impact our legislative visits
But there was NO difference at all between our visits with Republican vs. Democratic offices:
- They both saw foster care as a bipartisan issue.
- They both understood that our young peope who "age out" of foster care just want to build positive and productive futures
- They both totally *got* that helping a young person succeed in college/workforce meant a future taxpayer later on
When we talked about youth aging out of foster care without a savings account to afford housing... former foster youth needing to pay rent a year in advance due to having no co-signer... former foster youth being asked to pay hundreds of dollars to stay in a dorm (their only home!!) during campus breaks...
This was eye-opening to ALL offices. And they cared and were receptive to our proactive suggestions of solutions.
