What happens when a safe room in your grandmother’s house becomes the blueprint for community change? We sit down with Tonya Pulliam, executive director and founder, to unpack a two-part mission: housing and life skills for young adults aging out of foster care, and a rebooted thrift storefront—Sarah’s Den—that quietly meets urgent needs on the sidewalk every day.

We start with Virginia’s journey from grim outcomes to the Fostering Futures program, which extends support through age twenty-one. Tonya explains why that extra runway still isn’t enough without stable housing, trauma-informed counseling, and real-world skills like budgeting, employment readiness, and navigating leases. The conversation turns personal as Tanya shares how her grandmother’s humor, standards, and “earn your keep” ethos inform staff culture and the way they celebrate small wins that build long-term confidence.

The story behind Sarah’s Den is as human as it gets: a man sleeping on the steps, a request for shoes, and a flood of neighborly generosity that outgrew a computer lab and became a sustainable thrift model. We explore how the store funds outreach while keeping a daily, no-questions-asked rack for anyone who needs clothes now. Tanya also reveals how relationships with developers unlocked entire buildings, creating safer, supervised hallways where young residents can stabilize without predators at the door. Along the way, she talks about burnout, the long arc of impact, and the unexpected messages from former mentees who return as thriving adults.

If you care about foster care reform, transitional housing, homelessness, and community-led solutions, this conversation offers practical insight and a grounded path forward. Listen for actionable takeaways on building resilient support systems, staying open to better-than-expected outcomes, and pairing compassion with structure to turn shelters into launchpads. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who works in youth services or housing, and leave a review to help us reach more listeners who want to turn care into change.

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