First Lady Melania Trump announces $25 million investment to aid foster youth

First Lady Melania Trump announced Friday that she has secured a $25 million investment to help secure housing for young people transitioning out of foster care.

According to a White House press release, the investment will go to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) program, which provides housing for transitioning foster youth. Per Trump, the money will be used to provide “rental assistance and other supportive services to promote stability and self-sufficiency.”

“I am proud to have successfully secured $25 million to provide housing for individuals aging out of foster care,” Trump said. “This is another essential measure that ensures the safety, welfare, and autonomy of those in the foster community.”

The funding comes as part of Trump’s BE BEST initiative, which she founded to promote children’s well-being. Part of that initiative, Fostering the Future, focuses specifically on alleviating some of the challenges that foster youth face.

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Finding housing is a common challenge for young adults who transition out of the foster care system. According to the National Foster Youth Institute, approximately 23,000 young adults exit the foster care system without securing permanent housing each year. Twenty percent of those young adults become instantly homeless.

HUD Secretary Scott Turner thanked the First Lady for securing the funding, calling it a “game changer.”

“This dedicated funding for foster youth is a game changer in providing young adults with access to short-term housing assistance and supportive services, which will prevent homelessness,” he said. “I am so appreciative of the First Lady’s efforts, for her commitment to helping our Nation’s foster youth through her BE BEST initiative and for championing public-private partnerships that are changing lives every day.”

Turner also told Fox News Digital that Mrs. Trump has been “helping and inspiring so many of America’s children.”

He added, “This is such a formative time in a young person’s life and through HUD’s Foster Youth to Independence Program, we are preventing homelessness and giving these young Americans a launching pad into a life of self-sufficiency.”