Eric Gilmore lived a fairly “Leave it to Beaver” life near Dayton, Ohio. After earning a master’s degree in social work at UALR, however, he dedicated his life to turning his thesis into a nonprofit organization to help those less fortunate.

Last year, Gilmore and his wife – North Little native Kara Howe Gilmore – launched Immerse Arkansas, an operation that provides young people aging out of the foster care system a helping hand in transitioning to a successful adult life.

Immerse Arkansas has worked with about 15 young people, from age 18 to 21, who “aged out” of the foster care system with no instruction book for becoming an adult. The organization provides semi-supervised residency in college-style living and transitional coaching to help them identify and reach their goals.

“We are trying to make sure they have access to the tools needed to succeed and that there’s a circle of people they can stay connected with,” Gilmore said. “It’s the old saying, ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.’”

After graduating from Cederville University in 2006 with a degree in international studies, Gilmore was selling advertising for a radio station and his wife was working in Dayton as an adoptions worker. When he looked over the county’s recruitment materials, Gilmore discovered how foster kids who age out of care are basically on their own. “That’s not right,” he said.

“My wife would bring home a calendar of kids that wanted to be adopted, and one month featured a 17-year-old which broke my heart,” he said.

As a result, the two found positions as house parents in a youth home at Second Chance Ranch in Paron, Ark.

“We were 25 and 24, not much older than the kids we were responsible for,” he said. “We thoroughly enjoyed it. We fell in love with the young people, their energy level, and their ability to engage.”

Gilmore recalls one young woman who was 14 when she came into the foster system and bounced from group home to group home. She had 50 different placements before she turned 18 and aged out.

“We saw how unprepared for adulthood she and others were,” he said. “There was no support in place once she decided to exit foster care. There was a big gap. We decided that was not okay.”

Gilmore enrolled in UALR’s graduate program in the School of Social Work. His professors helped him hone his ideas. His master’s thesis was the basis of Immerse Arkansas.

“The assistance I have received from UALR has been phenomenal,” Gilmore said.

Jonathan Howland, a fellow UALR social work graduate student, was in the second year of the MSW program when he wrote a grant in March in support of Gilmore’s idea.

The grant gave Immerse Arkansas $20,000 from New Futures for Youth for the Strengthening Communities Fund Nonprofit Capacity Building Program. The funding allowed Immerse Arkansas to streamline its administrative processes, enhance its brand awareness through a comprehensive branding overhaul that includes creative design and strategic media communications, and travel to best-in-class programs around the country to further develop the program.

Now a year later, Immerse Arkansas operates an office in the University District and has eight participants aged 18 to 21 who “aged out” of the foster care system. The organization provides transitional housing and then semi-supervised college-style residency in a student-centered apartment complex next door to UALR.

One former foster care young man helped by Immerse Arkansas was able to complete his high school education and started his college career at UALR in the spring.

Another young woman has been reunited with her birth mom who had lost parental rights, but now has been sober for six years.

“They are now in a rent home with each other. It has been a great experience for both of them,” he said.

“Our main goal is to ensure that every youth who ages out of the foster care system has the support to do so successfully,” Gilmore said. “Kids don’t have to make that journey by themselves.”