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Jan 31, 2008 12:19 am US/Pacific
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Guiding Foster Youth to Adulthood
Jefferson Award Winner: Robert Jemerson
(CBS 5)
"They see me everyday," says Robert Jemerson. "I am the first person they see when they walk into this office in the morning and I'm the last person they see when they leave in the evening, 'cause I want them to know I am there. I am there."
"There" is the Independent Living Skills Program of Alameda County, a second home for many foster teens who turn to "Mr. J" to help them navigate into adulthood.
Jemerson gave up a legal career, spending the last twenty years as Director of Training at ILSP, giving kids life skills to become independent productive adults.
"We talk to kids about how to write a check for example, what about housing, how to get into school or colleges after high school, what about financial aid. We talk to them about health care, all the things that my dad and mom talked to me about and probably your mom and dad talked to you about," Jemerson explains.
Nineteen-year-old Janea Martin was in foster care since she was nine. She started coming to the ILSP at fifteen. Today she works at the program part time and attends college. She says Mr. J has helped her with everything from getting her prom dresses to financial aid.
"He helped me graduate, get into college, housing... he's been like a father," she says.
And like a father, Jemerson proudly displays all his teens' photos: graduations, college tours, field trips, and other events he helps arrange. Graduation tassels are on show as trophies to remind current students they, too, can succeed.
Jemerson says, "I want to give young people the opportunity to dream a little bit. Absolutely it's very important."
"He has this one saying: you fail to plan, you plan to fail," says San Francisco State University Student Sokom Mau. "So I began to plan so I won't fail and obviously it worked."
Mau and Kenya Hollomon, a San Jose State University student, are two of the 200 ILSP graduates who are currently enrolled in colleges around the country. They still check in with the man they say is key to their success.
Hollomon says, "He's available and that's what most foster youth need. They need somebody who is going to be there, and be the backbone the support when no one else is around."
"Kids come from difficult circumstances, but that doesn't make them difficult," adds Jemerson. "Kids come from broken homes but they aren't broken. We can mend them. We can help them and that's what ILSP is designed to do."
So for his inspiration and commitment to helping foster youth make a successful transition to adulthood, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Robert Jemerson.
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