More Than a Runway
Beyond a single event, this is a journey where our foster youth come together to face their challenges head-on, work through trauma, and uncover the confidence and belief that exists within each of them.
The core of our foster youths’ experience is a 12-week intensive arts performance-based program that incorporates both therapy and professional fashion model training.
From Peer Relationships
to Healing
to Self-Esteem
to Resiliency.
Melody Centeno
& Foster Care Unplugged
Melody Centeno, LMSW, leads the program in partnership with HSVS. Being raised under the Auspice of the Administration for Children’s Services, she made the decision to devote her life towards supporting other foster care youth, “Bridging personal experience with professional practice”.
Her organization, Foster Care Unplugged, is focused on enriching and developing the lives of youth in foster care.
Scenes from Slay the Runway, Season 4
Serving it Forward
Money raised from the event allowed us to send our fashion show models on a service trip to Puerto Rico. Stigma unfortunately follows foster care. It’s easier to not mention your circumstances, to hope that no one knows you’re part of the system. The act of saying yes to this program was an enormous step for our youth.
So Puerto Rico was how we reward them for stepping up and out of their comfort zone in order to slay the runway. During the trip they took in the sights, learned about the island’s history and volunteered with students, passing on experience and knowledge. For many, this was their first time on a plane, or away from New York City.