For the students we serve, our goal is equity! Sun Scholars is an organization who is committed to the advancement of higher education for students of the foster and adopted community
Academic Coaching and Social Equity Building
For academic coaching, students are matched with a Student Support Coordinator based on their past experiences, as well as academic and preferential needs. Students also have access to our best in class support system for the development of college competencies and academic readiness.
Academic coaching is a step beyond tutoring - the skills and strategies uncovered through coaching are transferable to all components of an individual’s college journey, and beyond.
Career Competencies
Students have access to various resources to develop career competencies. Such services include:
Career counseling
Resume Building & Critique
Interviewing & Interpersonal Skills
Social Equity Building
SUN Scholars encourages collaboration with board members, staff, and other professional allies to develop social capital and equity. We are constantly facilitating workshops, networking events, and other opportunities that allow students to develop leadership and advocacy skills.
Advocacy
At Sun Scholars Inc, we fight to facilitate opportunities and the dreams of our students. Our mentors are tirelessly working to put students in a position to succeed as well as set an example so that they have the tools they need to navigate the professional world.
Integrity
As a growing entity in the field of Child Welfare Advocacy, it is the duty of all employees to work in a way that is ethical, professional and honest. By way of this we maintain an organization that can be trusted by collaborators, constituents and students alike.
Representation
An aspect of our organization that sets us apart from others in our field is our dedication to representation. Currently, all employees for SUN have direct experience growing up in the foster and adopted community. We know the struggles that our students may face and we are here to lend a helping hand of guidance from the similar experience we face.
SUN Services & Programs
Professional
Mentoring
Our Student Support Coordinators function as direct mentors who can support and advocate for our students. In addition to our academic and career coaching, we put a strong emphasis on the connections that we cultivate with every student that we meet. With this strategy of building through understanding, empathy and communication, we create a tight knit community that can be used as an additional resource for university, post secondary education and beyond!
Anything it takes
While SUN’s main mission is academics, we realize that challenges that occur outside of the classroom impact what happens inside the classroom.
SUN works to connect students with resources to tackle housing insecurity, food challenges, and other obstacles that may prevent learning from occuring.
Social Equity Building
SUN Scholars will have multiple opportunities to connect with board members, staff, and other professional allies to develop social capital and equity. Students will be invited to workshops, networking events, and other opportunities that allow students to develop leadership and advocacy skills.
What We Do & Why We Do it
SUN Scholars Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the foster and adopted youth in the state of Connecticut. It is through academic readiness, mentoring, advocacy, and resource coordination to combat food and housing insecurity that we reach our goals.
We pride ourselves on our representative workforce of professional former foster youth, trauma informed pedagogy, and expertise in student development of higher education. Our diverse set of skills and experiences has culminated in a proven track record of increased enrollment, retention, and ultimately college graduation rates of former foster and adopted youth.
While almost all foster and adopted youth want to attend college, less than 3 percent will receive a bachelor’s degree within their lifetime. Additionally, a review of the National Youth in Transition Database shows that only 3 percent of aged out foster youth in Connecticut will receive an associate degree by age 21.[1]
While Connecticut offers college subsidies as an effort to alleviate the financial barrier toward accessing a college education, only 3 to 7 percent of students enrolled will graduate. Students who fail to complete their college degree once enrolled, some after already having received 1 to 2 years of state funding, dropout—a demonstrable loss of millions in taxpayer dollars.
Additionally, foster and adopted youth have higher rates of incarceration, homelessness, and poorer lifelong outcomes than their peers, all at the expense of state funds and loss of potential human capital. There are many studies that match fiscal benefits with greater college attainment. The direct savings of both the secured and retained investment of Connecticut’s college-enrolled foster youth and subsequent benefit to the state through improved human capital substantiate the entirety of the SUN Scholars’ budget.