Meet Christian Anderson, an enthusiastic advocate for youths who have been part of the foster care system, and young adults who face homelessness. As a former foster care youth himself, Christian has overcome many challenges in his life and is passionate about serving others who have had similar life experiences.
Being in the Foster Care System as a Teen
Christian spent his early childhood with his mother, who passed away after battling significant health issues. Shortly after, he became part of the foster care system, moving around and being put in temporary placements throughout his childhood. But that changed at the start of his high school years. He moved in with a relative on his father’s side of the family and prepared to take control of his future.
“My grades overall were great the first two years,” he noted. “I was on a debate team. I was involved in extracurriculars. I was on a roll! I was even offered a free trip to Atlanta because I was in this college success program.”
However, life offered Christian a lot of hardships by the end of his sophomore year, and his focus shifted away from school. As he explained, “I would go to school for a day, and then I wouldn't go to school for three months. In a sense, I just dropped out.”
These years were especially hard for him, and full of rigorous personal challenges including homelessness.
“One thing I had realized [during that time] was that I really can't do my best with being in certain spaces,” Christian shared. “So when I was 18, I prioritized working hard.”
Within less than a year, Christian was already starting to see the results of his hard work pay off.
Before he turned 19 and aged out of the Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Foster Care Program in his area, Christian was approved for an apartment. He moved in at the start of 2023 and started pursuing a new path. Within a few months, Christian re-enrolled in high school and finished his last two years' worth of school in less than three months — just in time to graduate in June.
“I was very overly committed to [going back to school] because as a six-foot-five black man in a world that’s very white, I wasn't fortunate to have the support that some people do going through high school,” Christian shared. “So, I pushed myself and kept thinking, ‘I'm going to do this,’ and I’m grateful. I ended up graduating at the beginning of June of last year.”
Igniting a Passion for Supporting Young Adults
With his diploma in hand, Christian started planning his future career path. He quickly decided to use his credentials, talents, and skills to help others in similar situations.
“As a person who went through homelessness temporarily and also who aged out of foster care, I do have an experience in those ways,” Christian shared. “And with me being a black man in foster care, my experiences were not always ideal. So I commit a lot of my time to improving the system overall and creating opportunities for youth and adults who have experienced some of the same experiences as me or just want to be involved. I help create those spaces.”
Since then, Christian has committed himself to uplifting youth and young adults in the foster care system and youth who are going through homelessness in a multitude of ways.
Christian has passionately advocated for youth in the foster care system and young adults who are going through homelessness. In 2021, he joined A Place 4 Me (AP4M) as a consultant, where he served as the Board of Directors Vice Chair until May of this year, ensuring the sustainability of impactful practices to prevent youth homelessness in his county.
In addition, Christian has also served as a State Council Member for Youth Move Ohio, where he focused his efforts on substance abuse prevention and mental health awareness. He has also served as an Income & Stability Committee Member for Enterprise Community Partners since 2023, where he has supported endeavors to create employment opportunities for young adults who are transitioning from homelessness to independent living.
This service has not only been rewarding for him, it has also allowed him to continuously grow and develop his skills so that he can help as many youths as possible. Because of his relentless dedication and leadership, Christian was the first awardee of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio (PCSAO) “Leaders of Tomorrow” award from his county in over a decade.
Working Toward Tackling Higher Education
After exploring ways he can support others in his community, Christian also discovered that earning a college degree could open the door to even more opportunities.
“I am a first-gen high school graduate,” he told us. “Neither one of my parents made it past 10th grade in high school. I think that a high school diploma was already enough for me, but I have certain goals in my life that I need degrees to meet. I'm gonna say degrees because it isn't just one degree.”
What’s more, Christian pointed out another major reason he decided to pursue higher education: he wanted to use his degrees to help other foster care youths in his community.
“There's a low percentage of foster care youth who actually get a degree after aging out so I wanted to add to that,” he shared. “When I get into my place of work, I also want to be able to be a push towards empowering other youth to make that decision or be supported enough to make that decision.”
Feeling ready to take on this next chapter in his life, Christian enrolled at a local university right after his graduation. However, after a little while, he told us, “I didn't think it was a good fit for me because the school lacked the accommodation I needed.”
Finding the Right College Fit
But he didn’t let that stop him from continuing his education. After leaving the university, Christian started searching for a better option and was reminded of an opportunity he had applied to before graduating from high school: Campus.
“I filled out a little interest form for Campus, but I couldn’t be in college when I don't even have a high school diploma. But one day, I looked through my email again and decided to apply to Campus.”
Not long after, Christian received a phone call from his academic counselor. He was attending a workshop in another state at the time and received the call in the middle of a presentation. Rather than hang up again as he had after filling out his initial interest form, Christian decided to take a chance and continue the conversation with his academic counselor.
After they connected, Christian told us that “Campus seemed like they had great things to offer me. I thought, ‘Hey, let’s just see where this goes.’” Two days later, he received an acceptance letter and started his college journey in October of last year.
What Does the Future Hold?
Since then, Christian has put in a lot of work toward earning his associate degree in business administration and uses the skills he is learning in both his current roles and in helping him further his career aspirations.
At the time of this interview, he had mentioned that his goals career-wise were to “open up a nonprofit that will provide outreach and resource assistance to youth and young adults, 16 and up, who are going through homelessness, foster care, housing instability, or are in crisis.”
We are excited to see that as of August of this year, Christian has worked toward that very goal. He recently founded The Youth Empowerment & Stability Foundation - also known as the YES Foundation, where he seeks to further serve at-risk youth by giving them the tools they need to prosper and become future community leaders.
“By implementing the YES Foundation, I hope to bring a whole new social meaning to the word yes,” Christian smiled as he explained more about his organization. “I want to increase the number of minority high school grads who say ‘Yes I have a high school diploma.’ I want to lower the suicidal rate for youth and young adults in my community and empower them to say ‘Yes I might be going through a challenging time in life, but I feel supported and that’s helping me push through every day.’ I’m also trying to say yes to system change by limiting the barriers youth and young adults face and raising the voices of those who have been abused or misused by the system.”
Learn More About the Campus Experience
If Christian’s story resonates with you, or his words about Campus have caught your attention, be sure to check out the Campus online associate degree in business program or request more info here.
You can join inspiring students just like Christian by applying to become a Campus Scholar today!