Rob:  Each year, roughly 25,000 people age-out of the foster care system.  Just imagine being 18 and completely on your own, without family or economic support.  Now young people coming out of foster care face steep challenges, including higher rates of unemployment, incarceration, and even homelessness.  But a new program in Oklahoma is helping these young people, while also giving a much needed boost to our workforce.
Rob:  Something that looks like work to most people is a new beginning for Michael Holdeman.
Michael Holdeman:  I see it as an opportunity.  I really didn’t have anything else going for me, so this really helped.
Rob:  Holdeman is part of Project Moves, a program that helps young people, raised in foster care, enter the workforce.  
Holdeman:  I’m actually doing something.  I’m working every day, making money.
Rob:  Like other teens in the program, Holdeman didn’t have a typical childhood.  Raised in foster care, and on probation, opportunities were few and far between, until he met this guy.
Stephen Marquardt:  I see it in their faces, the second I look in the center of their eye, and I see that they’re excited and they’ve got grins on their faces, and you can tell from these young men whatever was going on in their lives is now, not, a predominant thing.  
Rob:  Stephen Marquardt is the industrial coordinator for Project Moves and says by connecting young people in need of work with industries in need of young people, the program helps both employees, and their employers.
Pete Davies:  I think everybody, in their life, deserves some type of break, and our attitude towards these people, if the kid is prepared to come in here and learn; we’ll help him.
Rob:  Pete Davies is the chief operating officer of Bliss Industries, where Holdeman works as a machinist, and says few people realize just how hard young people coming out of foster care, often have it.
Davies:  And at 11:30 that day, when they broke for lunch, Michael said he was walking across the street to the local gas station to buy something to eat.  And when he came back, the guys had asked him where his food was.  And he said, well he didn’t have any money to buy food; so, his colleagues shared their lunch with him.  And since that day, they’ve pretty much taken him in and adopted him; and they’re just doing a great job to support him.  
Davies:  He’s a very quiet, shy, young man.  He’s obviously had some difficulties in his background, but he seems to have blossomed and expanded during his time here.  We’re really impressed with the way he’s growing into his job here.
Rob:  A job that is not just a paycheck for Holdeman, but a chance at success, that he hasn’t had in a long time.
Rob:  To learn more about helping foster children once they turn 18, head to our website where we have a link to Beyond Foster Care.