Rosa Maria Woodard is a native New Yorker and the mother of five boys, aged 16 to 26. She worked for 18 years with Merrill Lynch. “The program gave me a chance to be me. It was a wonderful experience. Everything I learned there was far more relevant to my life than anything I’d learned in school. I made a close group of friends. I was also guaranteed college admission and given a lot of help in completing my college education, which I finished back in 1992 at Hunter College.”

“Going back to college turned out to be a remarkable experience; everything, really, that I missed by not completing school in the sixties and seventies. I have pictures up all over my apartment from the graduation party they held for me at The Children’s Aid Society National Training Center.”

“If it wasn't for the CAS program, I’d probably be back where I was, looking at life as a one-day-at-a-time thing. Throughout these years CAS has created a safe haven for my kids. The after school and evening programs have helped keep them off the streets.”