Hello and welcome to my weekly blog! I am beyond excited to have the opportunity to document my experience through Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County. First things first, my name is Sofia Urquiola and I am about to enter my senior year at Cornell University. I major in Human Development and have minors in Spanish and Law & Society. I am interested in pursuing social work and psychology after graduation. I believe my position this summer as a PASTA 2Gen Program Development intern will only help in my pursuits. PASTA stands for Parenting A Second Time Around and it has been addressing relative caregiving and kinship for well over a decade. It, along with the Relatives as Parents Program (RAPP), aids relative caregivers who are not the biological parents of the children in their care. PASTA provides grandparents and other kinship caregivers with information, skills, and resources designed to enhance their ability to provide effective care for the young relatives they are parenting. I am looking forward to helping expand the curriculum to address the needs of the youth and children in the kinship families. I am already seeing the large impact this programming has on the community and am eager to work closely with these amazing families!

-Sofia Urquiola