{"id":2007,"date":"2020-05-20T16:09:59","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T23:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/?p=2007"},"modified":"2025-02-06T20:20:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T23:20:55","slug":"the-loss-of-a-young-advocate-dedicated-to-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/the-loss-of-a-young-advocate-dedicated-to-service\/","title":{"rendered":"The loss of a young advocate dedicated to service"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fluid_container casa-text-only top\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"subtitle\">May 20, 2020<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"title\">The loss of a young advocate dedicated to service<\/h2>\n\t\t<div class=\"text\"><p><em>(Photo above from left to right: Kids Matter CASA Program Manager Lance Jones, Executive Director Susan Conwell, and Doshi \u201cDJay\u201d Joi)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u201cI\u2019m all about youth getting every opportunity that\u2019s afforded to them, because that\u2019s what they\u2019re supposed to get. If they\u2019re not, it means that something has to change.\u201d &#8211; Dosha \u201cDJay\u201d Joi, in his April 2020 interview with Kids Matter CASA in Milwaukee<\/p>\n<p>Dosha \u201cDJay\u201d Joi was a friend, a leader, and a persistent and joyful advocate for youth. Once in foster care himself, he dedicated his young adulthood to helping youth aging out of foster care. He was a CASA volunteer for older youth at Kids Matter Inc. in Wisconsin, and a dear friend to staff there. Last week, we lost DJay to COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to serving as a CASA volunteer, he was a member of FosterClub\u2014a group of young leaders in and from foster care\u2014and worked to transform the child welfare system as an advocate with the National Foster Youth Institute. He received two Champion for Change Awards from the Wisconsin Department of Child and Family Services\u2014one for his service to the Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council and the other for advocating for the extension of foster care to age 21. DJay contributed to efforts in Wisconsin to improve sibling visits and he advocated for LGB youth in particular.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after DJay passed away, Representatives Karen Bass and Gwen Moore of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth introduced the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/bass.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/reps-bass-moore-introduce-dosha-joi-immediate-coverage-former-foster\">Dosha Joi Immediate Coverage for Former Foster Youth Act<\/a><\/strong>. The bill would immediately ensure that eligible former foster youth have access to Medicaid until age 26.<\/p>\n<p>DJay was a powerful speaker and an advocate for the importance of personal connection. Susan Conwell, executive director of Kids Matter CASA, shares the following words: \u201cDJay had more impact on us than he could ever imagine&#8230; He was always there with words of encouragement and a \u2018to-do\u2019 list on behalf of his kids\u2014our kids\u2014foster youth. He left us too soon, and with so much more work to do for our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/hands-around-the-capitol-2019-002.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI\u2019m all about youth getting every opportunity that\u2019s afforded to them, because that\u2019s what they\u2019re supposed to get. If they\u2019re not, it means that something has to change.\u201d &#8211;Dosha \u201cDJay\u201d Joi<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/the-loss-of-a-young-advocate-dedicated-to-service\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The loss of a young advocate dedicated to service - National CASA\/GAL Association for Children<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The National CASA\/GAL Association for Children has updated its domain from 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