Fostering Success & Significance

Our Vision

Our students will graduate from college and become financially independent through employment and pursue healthy relationships while playing an important role in addressing the challenges in the foster care community.

Our Mission

Fostering Success & Significance equips students with critical resources to help them graduate college, achieve financial independence, and build fulfilling careers and relationships. We empower them to lead meaningful lives as leaders in their families, workplaces, and communities, giving back to foster youth and at-risk adults.

Our Story

Fostering Success and Significance (FSS) is a nonprofit organization founded by Doug and Robin Barnett to support foster youth as they navigate their college years and successfully transition into the workforce.

From Doug: In 2007, I attended a fund-raising event for a terrific non-profit that facilitated the adoption of older foster children with a “forever family”. Having been blessed with a loving and supporting family, I was clueless and shocked that night to learn the magnitude of the socio-economic problems our society faces due to the deterioration of the family unit and the foster care system. The statistical outcomes for foster youth in America are both disheartening and unacceptable.

After working hard to identify an existing non-profit to support that shared our vision of what it takes for these vulnerable young adults to experience success, we came to the unfortunate conclusion that it simply didn’t exist. As Robin and I reflected on our backgrounds, which included absolutely no experience in social services, we winced as we asked ourselves… if not us, who? If not now, when?

Since 2007 we have been blessed to work with amazing students, advocates, counselors and staff to help positively impact the lives of over 100 incredible foster youth attending college in the greater Sacramento area.