Sumter native fosters bright futures in youth with Columbia-based nonprofit

Faith Davis, founder of the Rose Leaf Foundation, spent 19 years in the foster care system and founded her nonprofit with her husband, Nicholaus, in 2019

A Sumter native wants to help children in foster care successfully transition into adult life, so she founded a nonprofit that teaches workplace and independent living skills and provides access to personal care products.

Faith Davis, who founded the Rose Leaf Foundation with her husband in 2019, was in the state foster care system for 19 years.

"As a foster care alumni, we have the unique ability to relate to the experiences that young people from care face during and after leaving foster care," Davis said in a news release. "The transition from foster care is life-long, and youth from care need to know that they have people who care and resources available as they navigate life after care. We established this charity to help these youth access the resources they often need to make a successful transition into society."

Since leaving the foster care system, Davis has earned a Bachelor's of Science in Exercise Science from Winthrop University and a Masters of Science in Exercise Science and Health Promotion.

Davis aspires to change the statistics behind life after foster care.

Davis named her nonprofit the Rose Leaf Foundation because "a rose expresses promise, new beginnings and hope while its thorns represent defense and loss. We want our young people to know that no matter what negative experiences they may have experienced that they can thrive beyond whatever boundaries they face, and we are here to support them on it. New beginnings are possible."

Strengthening Roots is one of the programs that are a part of the Rose Leaf Foundation, and it is a paid internship program where interns are equipped with workplace skills and etiquette then matched with a business in their desired career fields and paid a bi-weekly stipend. Davis' Rose Leaf Foundation, based in Columbia, also addresses the difficulty former foster youths face in transitioning from care to independent living through the Independent Living Program and the Care Closet.

"We have greatly been impacted by COVID-19 and have been unable to do our first class of our internship, so we've been doing a lot of one-on-one work with our clients. Our Care Closet is available anytime a young person needs something," Davis said. "We were blessed to have a large donation of items to our closet such as toiletry items. All of that is able to help any of our young people who are in need. So, toiletries such as shampoo, toothbrush, feminine items for young ladies … we never want their basic needs to be something that is a hurdle for them. We want to always make sure that no matter what you have going on that you feel clean and that you have those needs taken care of."

The nonprofit has already made an impact in the lives of several former foster care youth, according to Davis. She has raised $4,000 to support clients affected by COVID-19, and the organization has donated appliances to families that serve children in foster care, created resumes, mailed care packages, provided rent assistance and provided laptops for participants to help them complete their post-secondary education.

Davis is able to work one-on-one with each young person connected with her nonprofit.

"I am very hands-on with working with the young people that we serve. It helps them to know that someone else can understand some of the experiences they have had and have moved forward to be successful," Davis said. "Outside of providing emergency assistance and job skills training, believe it or not, we do a lot of life skills training with our young people as well. We are lucky to also provide counseling services and financial help that spans from budgeting classes to tax help from our awesome partners."

The Rose Leaf Foundation is a 501c3 organization and therefore relies on external financial support. All donations are tax-deductible. There are multiple ways to become involved either financially or through volunteer work. For more information, visit www.roseleaffoundation.org.

https://www.theitem.com/stories/sumter-native-fosters-bright-futures-in-youth-with-columbia-based-nonprofit,365451?