1. 6/17/2015 New Stepping Stones leader wants to help homeless youth find the right path ­ HeraldTimesOnline: Local News
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New Stepping Stones leader wants to help
homeless youth find the right path
By Lauren Slavin 812­331­4376 | lslavin@heraldt.com | Posted: Wednesday, June 17, 2015
12:00 am
In the four years Alysia Fornal has been with Stepping
Stones, the nonprofit has always had a waiting list.
Over the past six months, an average of 10 local youth
have been eligible and ready to move into the
transitional housing program as soon as a space opens
for them. These 16­ to 20­year­olds are living in
emergency shelters, crashing on friends’ couches or
living on the street. Some have mental health issues,
have been referred to Stepping Stones through the
court system or are addicted to drugs or alcohol. And
the vast majority of them were living in Monroe
County before they became homeless.
“There are kids experiencing homelessness
everywhere,” said Fornal, who took over as Stepping Stones’ executive director in May. “It doesn’t
just have to be a big, urban city.”
Stepping Stones is approaching a major milestone. In its 11th year, the nonprofit is on track to help
its 100th young adult graduate from high school, gain employment and live independently. All of
Stepping Stones’ high school­eligible youth are currently registered for school or an equivalent
program, Fornal said, and those who have graduated are being exposed to further education
opportunities, of which she is particularly proud.
“Looking at statistics for young people that experience homelessness, the vast majority of them do
not graduate from high school,” Fornal said. In 2014, six of Stepping Stones’ 18 residents had
dropped out of high school before entering the program. “With the stability we’re able to provide
here and the support we’re able to provide, our young people are able to graduate from high school,
and that’s a big part of adulthood and moving forward.”
Moving forward can be difficult for some of the residents, especially those who don’t see a future for
themselves. In 2011, Fornal started at Stepping Stones as an independent living coach. After they are
referred to the agency, residents work with these case managers to develop a plan to earn a high
school degree or diploma equivalent, apply for work, manage their government­provided benefits and
look for affordable housing.
Fornal
Alysia Fornal has been promoted to
executive director of Stepping
Stones.Nicole Krasean | Herald­Times

2. 6/17/2015 New Stepping Stones leader wants to help homeless youth find the right path ­ HeraldTimesOnline: Local News
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As a small nonprofit, Stepping Stones can only house nine residents at a time for up to two years,
though the average length of a resident’s stay is eight months.
One resident, a girl, 16, had been referred to Stepping Stones through the juvenile probation system.
In her short life, the girl had witnessed a friend being shot and had experienced addiction to heroin.
She told Fornal that her greatest fear was turning 18 and ending probation. On that day, the young
woman told Fornal, she worried that she would overdose.
“This young person was potentially envisioning what they thought to be the day that they would die,
and that it was something they didn’t necessarily have control over,” Fornal said.
Once a young person comes to live in one of Stepping Stones’ three resident apartments, independent
living coaches can work with them one­on­one to create an individualized education and employment
plan, all with an end goal of moving out to live independently.
“Which could be difficult for some youth who say they’ve never had a job before, or maybe mom
and dad never worked so they never had good role models of successful employment,” Fornal said.
“A good part of our population has some sort of mental health or drug abuse or health condition that
may present as a barrier to being successful in employment or education.”
Fornal has worked with several residents with borderline personality disorder, a mental illness that
causes mood instability and makes relationship­forming difficult.
“It’s a pretty significant disorder to have. It’s a world of turmoil that those young people are living in
when they have BPD, and it’s not something that’s necessarily curable,” Fornal said. “They’re going
push you away as hard as they can. It’s like, ‘I hate you for loving me, and I hate me for hating you.’”
Stepping Stones connects its residents to networks of support, from high school graduation coaches
to other local social services that offer substance abuse prevention programs and mental health
counseling. The girl who worried she would die by her 18th birthday instead spent a year at Stepping
Stones before reconciling with her family and moving out of state, which was one of her goals.
The agency helped another resident with borderline personality disorder start a job at a fast­food
restaurant, where she worked her way to a management position. Fornal keeps in touch to provide
additional referrals to other services as needed.
“There’s a lot of obstacles our young people have to overcome to be successful, and the majority of
them are doing it in some way,” Fornal said. “They’re getting employed and they’re working on their
education, and that’s definitely a standard we hold our kids to.”
This year will remain a period of transition for Stepping Stones, Fornal said. Former Executive
Director Mindy Caron, who took over last year from Stepping Stones’ founder Sheri Benham, left the
nonprofit prematurely due to a family emergency. Stepping Stones is working to raise individual
donations to make up for a drop in grant funding. And to ensure the efficiency of services and meet

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the continuing demand for transitional housing for young adults, Fornal plans to work closely with
other local agencies that serve their residents’ needs.
“I really believe we’re all successful when our partners are successful,” she said. “The better we can
work with other agencies that have refined their processes in areas that are integral to our young
people, I think that will make all of us stronger.”