The Purple Umbrella Network provides resources and community to students at Kent State who have been impacted by foster care.

Danielle Green-Welch, who works as the director of First Star Kent State Academy, created the network. First Star is a national program that works to ensure children in foster care have the resources they need to transition into college, and Kent State is one of the universities partnered with the program.

“First Star provides academic support, life skills training, career exploration, social and emotional wellness and caregiver support,” Green-Welch said. “We provide this with the goal of helping students to graduate on time, as well as to be prepared for higher education, enlistment into the military or entry into the workforce.”

While First Star helps middle and high school students in foster care, the Purple Umbrella Network specifically focuses on the needs of college students at the Kent Campus.

“The Purple Umbrella Network is the college extension of our First Star work,” Green-Welch said.

The Purple Umbrella Network welcomes all students who were in foster care as well as students that were adopted or raised by a relative. The network provides resources such as assistance in getting food, money or other basic needs.

Students at Kent do not have to have been members of First Star in order to participate in the college-focused program. Heavin Shoulders, sophomore at Kent State, never participated in First Star as a foster care youth but has been a part of the Purple Umbrella Network for almost two years.

“I met Mrs. Green-Welch through a friend at Cleveland State who made me aware that there’s resources here I can use,” Shoulders said. “So, I reached out to her and she’s been very helpful through this whole process of being in college.”

The network has provided Shoulders and other students with resources that help to stay on track to graduation, and she hopes to spread awareness on the program.

“This is something that needs to be known, because a lot of people need it, and they might not know that they need it until someone talks to them about it,” Shoulders said.

Kayla Gleason is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].