Today we’d like to introduce you to Aubrie Simpson-Gotham.
Hi Aubrie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Foster care has always been a cause dear to my heart. Several people in my life planted seeds to inspire me to found Fostering Connections. My dad’s father passed away tragically when he has an infant.
His father’s death led to a relative foster care placement for my dad for a short period of time and childhood of poverty and trauma for my dad and his family. My dad overcame numerous obstacles from the trauma he experienced as a child and had led a happy, successful adult life. His story first inspired me to help children who have been impacted by foster care or trauma.
In college, I met a friend who had spent the majority of her childhood in foster care. She shared with me the huge need for support services for kids in foster care. I wanted to help, but at that time there was limited information online about how to support kids in foster care. After college graduation, I became a kindergarten teacher at a high-poverty school. I had several kids that were in foster care and many who had experienced trauma. One student I had was being raised by his grandparents and was really struggling in school. I saw firsthand how trauma impacted learning for children and how limited services were for children impacted by foster care or trauma. This experience drove me even further to do more to help.
I got involved volunteering in the community with a variety of nonprofit organizations to learn more about community resources and how I could help. I worked for a nonprofit family visitation center assisting with fundraising, in which I learned about the funding structure for programs for children in care. After seeing that there were no local organizations that provided support services to children in care or who had experienced foster care, I got together with some friends in February 2019 and founded Fostering Connections St. Johns.
We started only serving only St. Johns County since it is the only county in Florida to have its foster care program managed by the county. Since our founding, we have been able to expand our service to Duval, Putnam, Flagler, and Volusia Counties. In 2022, we changed our name to Fostering Connections to reflect that we now serve multiple counties around north Florida.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When I started Fostering Connections, I had no background in nonprofit management or business development.
Most of what I have learned has been on-the-job training. I have been fortunate to have been mentored by several local nonprofit and business leaders like Dawn Bell from the Early Learning Coalition of North Florida, Kelly Youngs from She is Fierce, and Stephanie McFee The Why Coach who has helped me grow tremendously as a leader through providing coaching, feedback, and insight throughout my journey as a nonprofit leader.
One of the biggest challenges I have had as a nonprofit leader has been the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has made it challenging for our clients to participate in in-person educational programs on an ongoing basis at times. It has given us the opportunity to be more creative and innovative in our program service delivery model.
In 2022, we are transitioning to a hybrid service delivery model for our educational programs, which will enable the children we serve to be able to attend our programs from anywhere, even if the student experiences placement disruptions.
As you know, we’re big fans of Fostering Connections. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Fostering Connections is a nonprofit organization that uplifts local children and youth impacted by foster care or trauma by providing needed essentials, educational programs, and community connections. We serve children and youth impacted by foster care or trauma from birth through age 23 in St. Johns, Duval, Putnam, Flagler, and Volusia Counties.
We provide needed essentials and enrichment opportunities to children impacted by foster care or childhood trauma focusing on basic needs, educational technology, and enrichment opportunities. We offer educational programs to help children and young adults impacted by foster care or childhood trauma plan for their future, focusing on college & career readiness and life skills, We work to make a trauma-informed community through support to families impacted by trauma, trauma-informed care training for the community, and connecting volunteers to opportunities to give support.
We are the only organization in northeast Florida that provides essential and comprehensive educational programs to children impacted by foster care or trauma of all different ages. Since 2019, we have been able to help kids in care around north Florida have the supports and resources they need to achieve their goals. We had a client who aged out of foster care and needed a car to get to work. He had been through many obstacles in his life and felt that good things just didn’t happen to him.
A member of the community stepped in and gave him a car. The gift of a car changed his life! Today, he is employed and has his own apartment and his outlook on life has become more positive. We are so proud of his accomplishments and resiliency.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love the sense of community we have in the Jacksonville area and the high level of community involvement we have here. Families and individuals are always willing to lend a helping hand to help make our community a great place for all to live.
We have wonderful cultural attractions and so many excellent restaurants. There is always something to see and do! Traffic in this area can be a challenge at times, but the pros of living in the Jacksonville area definitely outweigh the cons.
Contact Info:
- Email: fosteringconnectionsfl@gmail.com
- Website: www.fosteringconnectionsfl.org
- Instagram: instagram.com/fosteringconnectionsfl
- Facebook: facebook.com/fosteringconnectionsfl
Image Credits
Sweet Smiles Photography