Volunteer Manager

Pronouns: She, Her, Hers

Tanya Townsend is a former foster youth who resides in East Greenwich, Rhode IsIand with her two daughters 16 & 11. Tanya loves to be outdoors and to read in her free time. She has taken her love for the outdoors in and currently has a collection of over four aquatic tanks and seventy plus plants!

Tanya has a life long history of being involved with foster care advocacy work. In her teens, she realized that need for more supports, mentors, and youth voice. As soon as she was qualified she vouged to dedicate her life working with foster youth and alumni using her own experience as an energy source to fight for change. She takes pride in being able to see the concrete changes her dedication has contributed to. Also being able to establish authentic and genuine connections with other alumni and youth in care is something she values in the work. She hopes that through her work at Foster Club she can serve as a role model for youth and a participant in positive change.

A recent graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a Masters in Public Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Human Resources. She was previously working as a Program Director for Youth Development Services, Independent Living and Enhanced Case Management programs in Rhode Island. In this work she oversaw the state contracts for youth 16-24 who had experienced foster care. These contracts included the state advocacy board, mentoring program, life skills, and others. As a youth Tanya had personally utilized these programs and sought to use her lived experience to improve them.

If you ask her though she will say her greatest achievement is achieving her academic goals. She states, “ As a youth in foster care I had become a mom just after my 14th birthday. It forced me to drop out of highschool in 9th grade. Despite this I never lost sight of the importance of education. To have achieved the educational goals that I have is very important to me and I hope to be a support to other young moms in the system.”