Vishagan Ratnaswamy

As part of his Chang Prize project focused on social justice for foster youth, Vishagan Ratnaswamy (PhD ’19) has built partnerships with grassroots and school-based organizations serving marginalized youth in the San Francisco area. He is collaborating with Lavender Phoenix, a community organization supporting queer, nonbinary, and trans individuals, to better understand policy gaps affecting LGBTQIA+ foster youth. Through workshops, data analysis, and feedback on research whitepapers, he is examining deficiencies in local, state, and federal policies impacting this population.

Vishagan is also working closely with the Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program (FYSCP) within the San Francisco Unified School District. He has met with staff to learn about their infrastructure, funding challenges, and data practices, and is analyzing their research to develop policy recommendations. Chang Prize funding is helping sustain an academic support initiative for foster youth through this collaboration.

In addition, he is pursuing partnership with My Other Brother (MYOB), which serves Black youth affected by educational inequities, to explore policies addressing anti-Blackness, homelessness, and foster care. His next steps include drafting and refining policy whitepapers and deepening partnerships to advocate for systemic change.