How You Can Help

But unlike their peers, most foster youths don’t have that family-based support system to pick them up when they make a mistake or to encourage them to keep going when they face challenges. They are more vulnerable to giving up when things don’t go as planned.

At Bravo, we understand that while tuition money is the major stumbling block for foster students to graduate, an inadequate support system also plays a role. This is where you come in. Can you give some time each month to support a foster student working toward graduation? If so, sign up to be a Bravo Buddy.

As a Bravo Buddy, you will connect with your student a minimum of once a month for a “wellness check.” This contact can be done via phone call, text, zoom meeting, etc. Communication is not expected to be face-to-face.

These monthly calls allow your student to get your perspective on a situation, request help with a problem or challenge, or hear your ideas about personal or school/career-related topics. You are not expected to perform any tutoring or technical problem-solving.

Suppose your student is facing an obstacle that requires intervention. In that case, you can contact our program coordinator, and we will step in to see if we have additional resources for your student.

We will check in with you occasionally to ensure the Buddy relationship is working to your satisfaction. Alternatively, you can contact our program coordinator if you are experiencing any challenges and would like us to intercede.

Through your relationship with your student, we will also monitor your student’s progress toward graduation so we can accurately reflect their academic progress in our metrics.

Your time and attention are invaluable to our students and help them realize there are people in the community that care about them.

We all have a need for information or advice from someone who has “been there and done that” in our field of interest. Early in our careers, we have family members, or friends of family members, that we can turn to for such information. This is how we start building our network.

Developing a professional network is more challenging for foster youths because they don’t have a strong family-based support system to get them started. This is where you can help.

Through this virtual volunteer position, we are building a network of experienced professionals like you who are willing to support our students in their career growth by offering to have a conversation with them. You can offer your insight on topics such as:

• What is it like to work in your field or industry?
• What are some of the hot issues? 
• What can they expect when they first get hired?
• Where to search for jobs in your field of interest.

When you sign up to be a student advisor, we will add you to our Student Advisor list, which is only available to our scholarship students. We include your name and a brief bio or link to your LinkedIn profile (with your agreement).

You control the narrative regarding how and when a student reaches out to you. If you prefer, your contact information will remain with our coordinator, who will arrange for you and the student to make contact.

Your knowledge and experience are priceless to our students. Sometimes all it takes is a chat to help a student take some first steps in growing their career and building their confidence.

A variety of opportunities are available to anyone wishing to offer their talents and time to support our mission. 

A volunteer role may be one-time or ongoing. Time commitments range from a few hours to several hours a month. 

A volunteer may work independently or on a team with other volunteers. Most volunteer work can be virtual, making it possible for someone to contribute regardless of physical location or limitations. In short, we seek to create a team environment that allows all kinds of volunteers to succeed and contribute meaningfully. 

Please reach out to us and we will work with you to find opportunities for you to contribute to our cause.

We have awarded scholarships to students from 15 Michigan counties. Make sure to add your school or county to our list!

Follow Bravo Programs of America on our social media platforms to ensure you hear about available scholarship opportunities and student support resources. Our board members would happily accept your invitation to connect on your social media platforms.

Most of our students struggle to make ends meet. Some of them are homeless. Your offer of support would make a big difference in their lives. It might be the difference between them staying in school and dropping out.

Think you can't make a difference? Here is what some of our business partners have offered:

• free haircuts
• heavily discounted dental services
• free career counseling
• free resume-building and printing services
• discounted help preparing income tax returns
• free business cards

When you sign up to be a business partner, we will add your business and service description to our Business Partner list, which is only available to our scholarship students. When a student would like to take advantage of your help, they will contact a Bravo coordinator, who will arrange contact between the two of you. In this way, we will ensure that only valid Bravo scholarship students benefit from your generosity. 

Please call or email us if you are interested in making a difference. We would be happy to discuss ideas and opportunities.

Designate Bravo Programs of America as your beneficiary in customer loyalty programs such as Kroger Community Rewards and Amazon Smile. It doesn’t cost you anything and only takes a few minutes.

Another no-cost way for you to help is to promote our fundraising events. This could be as simple as using your social media channels to share information and solicit their participation.

Even more impactful, donate an item (product or service) to be used in one of our raffles and help sell raffle tickets. Or hold a raffle or other type of fundraiser to benefit Bravo. Fundraisers can be as straightforward as hosting friends for dinner or watching a sporting event and asking each to make a small donation. Other ideas include holding a local bake sale, board game night, golf outing, corn hole tournament, wine and cheese tasting, etc.

We will help with promotional materials and engage our volunteers to help support you if needed. Let us know how you would like to help, and we will help you make it happen.

Minor events with modest results all add up to make a big difference.