See Those Stats?

Happy Tuesday Folks,

I hope everyone had a great and productive first day of the week!  I come to share an epiphany with everyone!  A good friend and I went went for a hike up near Bogus Basin Recreation Resort yesterday.  We were talking about life and future endeavors.  Considering how close I am to embark on this internship, of course we discussed my traveling to D.C. We discussed culture differences on the east coast vs. west coast.  Something else we discussed was my growing up in a practically all-white community.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Idaho has an estimated population of 1,716,943. 93.3% of the population identifies as "White alone".  The Hispanic or Latino percentage is 12.3% and the African American percentage is a whopping 0.8%.

Less than one percent.

Let's put this into perspective.  Washington D.C.'s Stats in a quick nutshell:
Washington D.C. Population: 693,972
"White alone": 44.6%
"Black or African American alone": 47.7%
"Hispanic or Latino": 10.9%

Wardrobe Sneak Peek

Good Evening Everyone!

Instead of indulging one last weekend before heading out of town, I decided to try on all of my clothes!  I thought you'd like to see a sneak peek of what I will be wearing from day to day.  Any critiques will gladly be accepted!  There's more, click link below or you can also Click Here. Hope you enjoy!

Executive Summary Sneak Peek

Happy Thursday Everyone!!!

5 days until I'm headed to Capitol Hill!!!

We were all asked to write a paragraph explaining our selected topic for our policy report this summer.  I thought I'd kick off my blog by giving you some information on what I'm working towards!  Please feel free to provide any feedback, as I would love more ideas I can incorporate (with your permission, of course)

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Terrence Scraggins

FYI Program Executive Summary

17 April 2018

Establishing Education Requirements for Foster Parents Serving the LGBTQI Community

A topic that continues to resonate with me as a gay man is the LGBTQI community within the foster care system.  While it may have been over 10 years since I aged out of foster care, there is still a lot of work is to be done when it comes to this community’s specific rights, as well as social justice issues.  The Human Rights Campaign website identifies only 14 states with “Foster Care Non-Discrimination Laws or Policies Inclusive of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” and only seven states with “Foster Care Non-Discrimination Laws or Policies Inclusive of Sexual Orientation Only” (Human Rights Campaign).  This is unacceptable.  As an adolescent, I knew and identified as homosexual but at no time in the system did I feel comfortable discussing or addressing my sexuality with foster parents, as I was afraid of being judged, shunned or treated differently.  Implementing some sort of mandated training and/or education on how to approach and address unique situations within the LGBTQI community (with special emphasis with the constantly emerging and growing transgender community) would be extremely beneficial for both lawmakers, foster parents as well as the youth who face constant discrimination while becoming comfortable with the gender they associate with as they identify.

Works Cited:

Human Rights Campaign. “LGBTQ Youth in the Foster Care System.” Human Rights Campaign, Human Rights Campaign, www.hrc.org/resources/lgbt-youth-in-the-foster-care-system.

Introduction

Greetings Everybody!

Today marks approximately 12 days before I get on my flight to start another chapter this summer! While it may only be an 8 week internship, the experiences and impact that all 12 of us Foster Youth Interns have the ability to make on Capitol Hill is exhilarating to even think about!

Feel free to share this blog!  I promise to do my best to remain bipartisan in all posts.  My plan is to make this blog from more of an objective as well as a personal standpoint.  I will do my best to be non-biased.

The purpose of this blog is to inform as many family members and friends about my journey this summer as I experience something I always believed to be a long shot at getting a chance at.  I cannot believe this is about to be a reality!

Cheers!  I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy posting throughout the next couple of months!

Terry