OUR MISSION
The Foundry’s mission is to build character and confidence in Lincoln’s youth.
OUR TEAM
The Foundry consists of staff and volunteers, all who have been background checked, fingerprinted, and screened for awesomeness. We have a variety of professional backgrounds, but we all have a common passion for Lincoln’s youth to thrive in Middle School, High School, and beyond!
Foundry Staff & Volunteers | June ‘24
OUR STAFF
Natasha Butler | Director of The Foundry: as a mom of 3 school-aged children, Natasha has a heartfelt passion for working with and for the development of children and young people. She has 20+ years of experience serving youth in multiple facets including inner city London tutoring and mentoring, anti-sex trafficking rehabilitation support for 45 house moms and over 40 staff in Cambodia, and experience in tutoring children with dyslexia.
Rob Fiock | High School Site Manager: recently local to Lincoln, Rob is married with 4 little kids, manages the LHS Foundry site, and loves connecting with students. Rob has 12+ years of experience in youth work and spent the last 10 years helping Google run their Streetview Mapping Operations in 7 countries. He enjoys good conversation, pickup soccer, geometry, spreadsheet formulas, fixing things, selling stuff on Amazon, and appreciates a good hot sauce.
Jerry Yu | Middle School Site Manager: Jerry is a professional eater (lol) and loves all types of food! He’s a graduate from Jessup University, majored in Psychology, is married, loves playing basketball and having good conversations. He is driven to become a clinical psychologist in the near future.
Kevin Castle | Youth Worker: Kevin enjoys ballroom dancing and is a self-proclaimed history nerd. He enjoys growing his own business, leading the youth ministry at his church and using his skills to work with the students at GEMS.
PROGRAM SERVICES
What a young person gets at The Foundry is a place to belong and to grow alongside their peers. Our leaders are dedicated to ensuring the individual success of each student and building up the next generation through service and mentorship. The Foundry is locally run and proud to call Lincoln, CA its hometown!
The Foundry offers all of the following services for FREE:
Chill Afterschool Space
Games & Fun Activities
Food Cooking Sessions
Enrichment / Skill-Building Opportunities
Student Leadership Opportunities
Mentorship
Tutoring
Food/Drinks
HISTORY
The Foundry started serving youth in 2015 and was originally located in a downtown brick building along Lincoln Avenue where students from 6th-12th grade found a safe place to belong, participated in many different program activities, and enjoyed many additional amenities for free. The Foundry Youth Center was established as a DBA of Emmaus Church Community, which continues to provide essential support services like payroll, HR, and administration. This partnership has enabled The Foundry staff to fully focus on the goal: to build character and confidence into Lincoln’s young people.
Beginning in 2023 and going into the 2024/25 school year, The Foundry began partnering with Western Placer Unified School District to set up two on-campus sites at GEMS and LHS. This move enabled The Foundry to offer more age-specific programing to both middle and high school students. The on-campus locations also dramatically increased student access to the mentoring, tutoring, recreation, and general relational support provided by The Foundry’s strong volunteer and staff teams.
