Matt Rosen (center) is stepping down after five years as Foster Youth in Action’s executive director. Photo courtesy of FYA
Foster Youth in Action (FYA) is seeking a new executive director to take the reins of the 11-year-old organization that works to promote leadership opportunities for current and former foster youth. Matt Rosen, the current executive director of FYA, announced on Monday that he would step from his post on September 26. He will join Habitat for Humanity of Greater San Francisco as chief program officer.
“I am so proud of all we have accomplished in the five years I have served as FYA’s executive director, and so excited about the future of our network and our movement,” Rosen wrote in an email to the organization’s supporters. “When I started with FYA in late 2014, we had one staff member [me] and six partners: now we’re now edging to 30 partners in 22 states and provinces, and with a powerful framework, a replicable set of tools and strategies, a track record of training thousands of young leaders, and growing power to affect change at all levels.”
The Berkeley, Calif., organization was founded in 2008 by members of the California Youth Connection, a grassroots group of current and former foster youth who worked to make changes to California’s foster care system. Since then, FYA has expanded to develop a network of youth-led foster care advocacy organizations across the U.S. and Canada. Using a youth organizing model, FYA works to develop the capacity of these organizations, including leadership training for youth and an annual conference that gathers foster youth leaders from across the country.
