Durham nonprofit receives $180K to help people aging out of foster care

Durham-based nonprofit LIFE Skills Foundation works with young adults to provide housing and wraparound services.

“We also provide a lot of kind of individualized wrap around support, so therapy, career and education support, case management,” said LIFE Skills Foundation Executive Director Alex Protzman.

The nonprofit is set to receive about $180,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding.

Protzman said that each year, about 20 people age out of foster care in Durham County. That number is closer to 30 in Wake County.

"We haven't been able to kind of take our foot off the gas,” Protzman said. “We've had to keep working and providing more services, having a population that's growing and having to hire more staff, and so it's been really helpful for us to get this funding, because again, the need isn't getting any smaller.”

Aging out of foster care -- and into the Triangle's soaring housing rates

Durham City Council Member Leonardo Williams commended the group for its work.

"You're definitely filling a void where there's no one else in that space,” Williams said.

Protzman said he believes the community has a responsibility to take care of those in need.

"They are going to become a ward of the state, they become all of our children,” Protzman said. “They are all of our young people."

LIFE Skills Foundation has also expanded to Raleigh and Chapel Hill, working to create a network across the Triangle.