The Foster Care Dilemma
The lack of quality facilities and services for foster care children, especially African-American foster children, led high-tech executive Andre Chapman to leave his successful Silicon Valley career and start Unity Care, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving life for all children in the foster care system. A disproportionate number of African- American children are stuck in foster care, a system that is terribly over-crowded and under-funded. Local resources have not been able to keep up with the double-digit growth in demand for services over the last decade. This shortage has led to a "warehousing" of children who get pushed through the system and pushed out, with few survival skills to make it on their own.

Beyond Band-aids to Caring
Unity Care opened its first residential facility in San Jose back in 1993. It now operates 11 group homes and 2 transitional houses, helping 18-24 year olds learn to make it on their own. In addition to providing a safe living environment, Unity Care has created after-school enrichment programs, leadership and job-training opportunities. Working with a local university, it created a pre-college minority engineering program that motivates middle school and high school students to stay on track for college. Unity Care also partners with local high-tech companies, finding volunteers to mentor our youth.

Contact info:
Andre Chapman
Unity Care
6116 Camino Verde, Suite 12
San Jose, CA 95119
(408) 281-4268
andre@unitycare.com
www.unitycare.com

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