When Mandy Williams was a student at the University of North Georgia (UNG), she started volunteering at a local children's home with her sorority, Kappa Delta. At that time, the Lawrenceville, Georgia, native found her a direction for her life.
"That is where my passion for helping others, especially youth, really developed," said Williams, who graduated from UNG in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology.
Now, she has parlayed her passion into Northern Star of North Georgia, a nonprofit program for young adults who have aged out of the foster care system. Williams created Northern Star to provide at-risk young adults from ages 17-21 the opportunity to transition into the role of a self-sufficient adults.
Williams learned about the problems of teens aging out of the foster care system while working as a counselor at Cornerstone Counseling, a full-service provider in Cleveland, Georgia. She explained after turning 18, children in foster care may exit the system or sign up for an independent living program until their 21st birthday.
"They have little to no support when they leave, and they become a negative statistic," Williams said.
She wanted to prevent that, especially in the northern region of the state. At the time no independent living program served young adults between ages 17-21 in the 13 northeast Georgia counties.
"I saw the need of the children and young adults," Williams said. "And I wanted to do something."
Williams started researching the process to form a nonprofit organization to help these young adults. In December 2013, the organization became incorporated. More than four years later, Northern Star purchased 3 1/2 acres to establish a self-sufficient campus complete with four houses for its residents.
About the same time, Northern Star signed its contract with the state as an independent living program. During residents' time there, they are taught the skills necessary to transition into their own apartment. Some of the skills include learning to study, build a resume, interview for jobs, participate in community service, manage money through budgeting and saving, and use community resources.
"Transportation is a big need for these young adults," Williams said. "Most of them don't drive and don't have a learner's permit. We want to get them driving and get their own transportation."
One unique facet about Northern Star is that it strives to provide its residents with a permanent connection to the community such as a local organization, church or a mentor family.
"We try to match the young adult with a mentor family," she said, adding the mentor families can offer support in individual ways such as birthdays and visits to their homes. "They make them feel like part of the family."
A life coach and an assistant director are on hand to help the young adults, along with a campus mentor who lives there. Williams also constantly works on providing them with stability. She said more than 50 percent of her time is spent with the young adults physically and on the phone or texting.
She attributes her success and skills to the early lessons she learned at UNG.
"UNG and Kappa Delta gave me resources and skills and the passion to do this," Williams said. "And the volunteer experience played its part."
But she knows she could not have done it alone.
"I'm thankful for community and family support that has gone into this program for the past four to five years," she said. "It's nice to see people pitch in and collaborate and make it happen. It's a huge resource for our community."
