National Foster Care Month is nationally recognized and takes place in May. The Foster Youth Awareness Month or #FYAM initiative started at UC Merced in May of 2019. The learning outcomes for #FYAM are to understand some of the experiences of Foster Youth, to create awareness in the Merced community and beyond, and to be able to identify at least two ways to support the Foster Youth community. In 2020, the program published its very own #FYAM2020 website and also created an #FYAM campaign on Facebook and Instagram featuring artwork, personal poems, and stories by Foster Youth across California. We were able to reach over 10,000 individuals across all platforms.
