Alumni Powerhouse Networking Conference
The purpose of APNC is to bring entry to mid-level professionals and entrepreneurs from across the country (and in 2018, internationally) who have experienced the foster care system to a supportive, professional space where they will promote their business endeavors, get feedback from other foster care alumni on how to build and expand their businesses (and non-profits), and connect professionally and personally with other adult professionals from foster care.
The success of the previous APNC’s has resulted in a demand to take it across the United States. In addition to Maryland, the APNC was also hosted in California and New York City. So far the APNC conferences have doubled attendance every year since 2015, welcoming 200+ foster care alumni professionals and entrepreneurs nationwide and featured presentations from Alumni of Foster Care Professionals from across the country.
The APNC has attracted support from national sponsors such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Dave Thomas Foundation and the Walter S. Johnson Foundation and has partnered with national foster care advocacy organizations such as iFoster, Fred Finch Youth Center, California Youth Connection (CYC), One Simple Wish, Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) and Jim Casey Youth Opportunity Initiative. Past partners and sponsors have included NYC Administration for Children Services, John Hopkins University, Prudential Insurance, Miles and Stockbridge, P.A., Foster Care 2 Success, Together We Rise, Foster Focus Magazine, FosterClub, Maryland Local Departments of Social Services.
SAVE THE DATE:
SEPTEMBER 19, 2020
A Part of the Family
GENRE: DOCUMENTARY
Subjects: Social Issues, Foster Care, Abuse, Entrepreneurship, and Non-Profit.
Over 12 million children have come through the Foster Care system in the last thirty years, feeling alone, and stereotyped to fail in life. Baltimore native, Shalita O’Neale (The FCN Foundation), tells her story from orphan to foster care to success. Angelica Nwandu (The Shade Room), Latasha Fuller (National Foster Youth & Alumni Policy Council) also talk about their journeys to success along a host of fellow foster care alumni. Regardless of how the steps are taken all are on the path to wholeness, and never walking alone.
Production Team
We are not just survivors,
we are success stories.
Director: Sebastian Smith
EMMY Nominated Filmographer and a Celebrity, Event, Fashion, Marketing, and Non-Profit Photographer and Videographer. He was adopted at the age of one and empathizes with the importance of Foster parents. He is a Veteran of the United States Air Force and has worked with notable clientele in a variety of industries. More recently his passion for film and photography have brought him in to the non-profit industry where he has produced award winning and international campaigns. He also owns and operates Vue Nashville, a photography studio, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Producer & Writer C.B. Fletcher
Multi-style writer that has contributed to ten publications as a journalist, author, and blogger in a multitude of genres. She is also a publicist and social media manager, and editor that has done a diverse amount of work with domestic and international non-profits, start up events, private companies, and a web magazine. Although she is not a former foster youth, she is proudly a product of a family created through her mother's adoption. Within all of her skills her passion is telling unique stories on paper, online, and on screen.
Executive Producer: Shalita O'Neale
Non-Profit coach, Head of the Fostering Change Network and the FCN Foundation, and a foster care alumni. She is heavily recognized and awarded for her efforts in the non-profit and foster care sectors. After her mother's murder she spent 19 years in Foster Care and that experience birthed her organization. She has dedicated her life to assisting foster youth and alumni to be the best versions of themselves. Shalita embraces her past to empower her future.
CAST
Everyone in the cast has been in foster care, worked with Foster Care children or alumni, or both.
The Foster Care Alumni come from: Baltimore, Boston, California, New Jersey, and North Carolina.
Shalita O'Neale | Angelica Nwandu | Latasha Fuller |Christian Benjamin | David Cunningham | Susan Emfinger | MaryBeth Hyland | Luigi Starr Kramer | Pauline Rose Moore | Cynthia Rounds-McGuigan | Marion Simmons