Foster care nonprofit opens new digital media center and sensory room for youth

A Wayne County-based nonprofit that runs a local charter school for students dealing with trauma has unveiled a new digital media center and sensory room. 

The new Weaver Media Center inside the Fostering Leadership Academy on West Six Mile in Redford includes a "Zen Den" sensory room, Promethean boards, collaborative style furnishings, and a 70-inch television that was funded by a $100,000 donation from a foundation that serves foster youth.

The Fostering Leadership Academy, a "trauma-informed" charter school, is run by the Methodist Children's Home Society Family of Services, a nonprofit that provides provides foster care, adoption and other services.

“At MCHS, we know that supporting youth in their time of greatest need will make a lifelong impact,” said Kevin Roach, CEO of MCHS, in a release Tuesday. “We continuously are looking for ways we can advocate for our community's most vulnerable youth and families, especially during years when education is so critical.” 

The new media center also will include 100 laptops for students to use and special mural by Detroit artist Mike Han. The Fostering Leadership Academy serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

On Wednesday, MCHS and its partners planned to hold a special ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new media center for students and their families, as well as prospective families.