Here’s the short list: Finish school. Find a home. Get a job. Create a support system. Think about college or vocational training. And stay out of trouble. The last item can be the toughest, as statistics show that foster youth are much more likely to be involved in drugs or unwanted pregnancies. And a mistake in any one of these areas can result in homelessness, depression or legal problems.
While you may not hear much about “aging out” of foster care—typically at age 18—it’s a big issue. With more than 400,000 …

Wife? Mother? First Lady? Cancer survivor? Activist for women’s issues? Substance abuse prevention trailblazer?
All of those descriptions fit the woman whose death touched so many people, including some too young to know her in the midst of the public phase of her life.
But one element was largely overlooked in the media coverage touched off by her death on July 8 at age 93: Betty Ford was a Junior Leaguer, through and through, for most of her life.
Raised in Grand Rapids, Elizabeth Ann Bloomer became a member of the Junior League …

It’s real…but it’s also a joke. July 21 is now designated as the day when we are encouraged to eat all the junk food we want—cheeseburgers with bacon, nachos with cheese, junk dogs…well, your choice—without  guilt.
But the joke is not so funny when you think about the national childhood obesity epidemic that The Junior Leagues’ Kids in the Kitchen program addresses.  And it lacks humor when you consider the fact that, in America’s inner cities, junk food is all that is available for most residents.
For most of us, this isn’t an …