Hoang has big news for you!
Hoang started Foster Advocates on a belief that child welfare systems change could, and should, be led by the people most impacted. Over the last four years, Foster Advocates has accomplished much more than Hoang or our Foster leaders initially imagined: a statewide network of Fosters, free college for Fosters, and in June, an Office of the Ombudsperson for Foster Youth. You pushed us to believe it was possible by advocating, giving, and showing up. And that belief gives us and has given Hoang the power to dream of something more for Fosters. So what’s the news?
More dreaming of a radically different future for Fosters is coming because Hoang won a 2022 Bush Fellowship! We’re thrilled for him and the space this gives Hoang to imagine and build a trauma-informed, Foster-centered movement. The Bush Fellowship comes with a cash award that Hoang will use to further his education, cultural connection, and movement dreaming over the next two years.
At Foster Advocates, we have been working on building staff and organizational capacity to help us launch into the next phase of our work. We aim to bring fundraising from $600,000 annually to $1 million each year to tackle legislation, research and measure what matters and amplify Foster leaders. That work includes Hoang, but we know how important it is that Fosters are not alone– that goes for leading, too. So we’ll be investing in our team and sharing leadership both to give Hoang space to learn and grow personally during his Fellowship and also because a shared, powerful network of leaders is what will bring our vision to reality.
So, thank you for believing in our vision of a Foster-led movement, and please join us in congratulating Hoang on this honor and on what it represents for future change for Fosters.
With Gratitude,
Elena Leomi
Associate Director
TLDR: You are important to achieving our vision + Hoang won the Bush Fellowship! + We’re building capacity, so Hoang and no Foster have to lead alone in this movement.
Hoang Murphy | 2022 Bush Fellowship | Term: 24 months
Hoang Murphy knows personally that the foster care system narrows imagination and hope for too many young people. He imagines a world without the need for foster care, where families are rarely separated and child welfare systems help children dream, not just survive. As founder and leader of Foster Advocates, he helps the people most impacted by the foster care system to lead this change. To achieve a shift in leadership and imagination, he will learn how to build coalitions to work toward transformational change. He will also seek ways to build movements that heal personal and collective trauma. A firm believer that to know where you are going, you must know where you have been, he will return to his ancestral home in Vietnam to learn about his family’s history and reconnect to the culture he was separated from as a refugee at age 2 and again as a refugee from his family at age 11.