Foster Youth Attend Intel’s Annual Kid to Work Day

Sacramento Region — One thousand seven hundred students attended Intel’s annual Kid to Work Day in Folsom on June 22, including 28 foster youth from Koinonia Family Services, a United Way certified partner agency. The youth attended the event as part of United Way’s Women in Philanthropy group that provides opportunities that prepare foster youth for emancipation.

“Women in Philanthropy is a dynamic group of women dedicated to making a difference in the lives of local foster youth,” said Steve Heath, president and CEO, United Way California Capital Region. “Too often foster youth leave the system without the skills to live on their own and be independent. Thanks to Intel’s Kid to Work Day and Women in Philanthropy, these kids are learning that there is a world of possibilities, and they can be successful.”

Each year, Intel, United Way’s largest corporate donor, opens the Folsom campus to students ages 8-18. This year, 300 Intel volunteers led 19 interactive workshops that featured activities such as Vex Robotics and Chip Design with Play-Doh. Intel’s goal is to inspire the next generation of innovators by introducing a hands-on discovery approach to math, science and technology. Kid to Work Day helps students form a link between what they learn in school and how it applies to the real world.

“Kid to Work Day was very inspirational and encouraged me to pursue my dreams,” said one foster youth. “It was really interesting to learn that there are so many varieties of careers in the technology field. I really enjoyed it.”

United Way California Capital Region is the region’s leading provider of innovative solutions on the community’s most pressing issues, including high school graduation rates, household financial stability and obesity. Working with other nonprofits, businesses, donors and volunteers, United Way provides positive, measurable results on vital health and human services issues. Through new and traditional fundraising and mobilization programs, community members can give, volunteer and advocate in support of the causes they care most about, benefiting United Way and hundreds of nonprofits in Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties. United Way is an independent, local affiliate of United Way Worldwide. For more information, visit www.yourlocalunitedway.org.

Koinonia Family Services is a foster and adoption agency with more than 25 years of experience throughout California and Nevada. With more than 80,000 children waiting for good foster and adoptive homes, the group’s mission is to provide the highest quality treatment foster care, adoption and family service programs available for children, youth and their families whose special needs can be met through services delivered, supervised and supported by professional agency staff. For more information, visit www.kfh.org.