Who We Are

In 1981, Joseph Rivers started an outreach program for foster youth, working from a Washington DC community center. Having spent his entire childhood in foster care, Rivers knew firsthand the tremendous obstacles these teenagers faced with little or no support.

Rivers and his volunteers took local foster youth in hand, one by one. They helped them with their homework and with college applications, taught life skills classes, hosted picnics and Christmas parties, and found them mentors and pen pals. With four modest $500 grants, Rivers began the OFA scholarship program in 1986.

After Rivers died suddenly in 1990, his foster sister, Eileen McCaffrey, who had been an OFA volunteer from the beginning, stepped in to keep the organization going. Under her leadership, OFA has grown into the largest provider of college funding and support services for foster youth in the nation.

Each year, OFA awards millions of dollars in scholarships and grants to more than 3,500 students in all 50 states and serves thousands more youth who are still in high school and just starting the college application process. Supported by volunteer mentors and coaches, OFA students have a remarkable 70% graduation rate after five years—three times the rate of other independent students. These former foster youth go on to build productive, successful lives, raising families and, significantly, often becoming volunteers in their own communities—carrying on the legacy of Rivers’ lifelong commitment to service.