By Britt Moore, Director of Communications
One Caring Adult Can Change Everything
For Tiana Kennedy, serving on the Raise the Future Board of Directors is a natural extension of both her professional career and her personal life. As a communications leader, nonprofit founder, and foster parent, she has dedicated her life to helping others build stronger connections and brighter futures.
Tell us a little about yourself and your professional background.
"I've spent my career helping organizations communicate with clarity and purpose. I started as a journalist before moving into strategic communications, where I now serve as AVP for Communications at Colorado State University. Throughout my career, I've been fortunate to work on issues that matter, from higher education and public service to nonprofit leadership and community engagement.
Outside of my professional work, I founded PawsCo, a foster-based animal rescue that I've led in a volunteer capacity for the past 13 years. Building that organization has reinforced something I've always believed: meaningful change happens when communities come together around a shared mission.
Perhaps the most transformative part of my life, though, has been becoming a foster parent. My husband, Matt, and I have welcomed seven children into our home over the past five years, ranging in age from 2 to 18. Today we're fostering two incredible teenage sisters who are primarily Spanish-speaking, which means our evenings include plenty of Duolingo lessons and learning to cook some of the Colombian foods they love. So far, arepas are my favorite."
What inspired you to join the Raise the Future Board of Directors?
For Tiana, the answer begins with her family's own experience as foster parents and the lasting relationships that continue long after a child leaves care.
"Fostering gave me an entirely new perspective on what young people need, not just during placement, but long after. One of the young people we fostered for two years aged out of care and is now a year into Foster Youth in Transition. She's currently living with us while applying for her first apartment and cosmetology school. Her needs look different at 19 than they did when she moved in with us at age 16, but she still needs consistent adults in her corner, just like most of us did when we were first becoming adults.
It’s so important that every young person has at least one adult who continues showing up for them during the good times, but especially during the tough times.
Raise the Future's mission deeply resonates with me because it recognizes that permanency is about more than adoption. It's about helping young people build lifelong, supportive relationships that continue into adulthood. That philosophy aligns with everything I've experienced as a foster parent, and I wanted to contribute my time and experience to an organization making such a meaningful impact."