About Us

Mission & Vision

Mission

To help youth in foster care, alumni, and vulnerable populations jump-start their healing journey from past trauma and adverse life experiences through teaching the Five Steps 2 Wellness: Meditation, Yoga, Expressive Writing, Community, & Nutrition.

Vision

To create a community of Yogis who will become Yoga and Meditation Ambassadors, and further expand the Five Steps 2 Wellness, creating a world where we are continually Breathing, Meditating, and Healing together!

WHAT WE DO

OUR STORY

Fostering Meditation (FM) was founded by Demetrius Napolitano after he spent 20 years inside NYC’s foster care system, where he struggled with complex trauma, depression, and post traumatic stress disorder. A friend introduced him to Meditation, and in 2019 Demetrius started a GoFund me and traveled alone to India to witness how Mindfulness and Yoga could help him manage his trauma and anxiety. Once Demetrius returned from his sojourn in June 2020, he began teaching both contemplative practices at his former elementary school, P.S. 108, in East Harlem. There he witnessed how the children gravitated towards his teachings with an inspiring dedication to learn and experience more. Soon after, FM was incorporated and granted its 501(c)3 status and a fiscal sponsor to help with its expansion. Beginning in 2023, FM has partnered with five schools, seven nonprofits, and with New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). Demetrius envisions training other former and current foster youth to becoming yoga and meditation practitioners, and then opening the door for them to teach other youth thereby creating  many communities of people who are meditating, breathing, and healing together!

THE HARLEM YOGI

ABOUT THE FOUNDER

If you would have told me ten years ago, I would graduate from both St. John’s and New York University, present a policy paper on adoption subsidy fraud to President Obama’s Administration while interning on Capitol Hill for Senator Kristen Gillibrand; that I would travel the country sharing my extremely traumatic upbringing; that I would study abroad in Ghana and speak to disadvantaged high schoolers on the shores of South Africa; and that I would loc my hair and travel alone to Nepal and India to study meditation and yoga for nine months, only to return to start my own organization called Fostering Meditation — I would have laughed and then said “wrong guy.” Truth is, I have been fortunate enough to do all these things and more.

I spent 22-years inside NYC’s foster care system, transferring between 30 placements throughout the five boroughs, was adopted twice, placed on prescribed medications, namely Ritalin and Adderall, spent time in a juvenile detention, and struggled with anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. I was destined to fail, to become another unfortunate statistic and end up either homeless, in jail, or worst — dead. Instead, by God’s grace, those few who believed in me, and my resilience to make a better life for myself, here I am an accomplished black man on a mission to change the world before He calls my name.

I welcome you to learn more about my journey through any of my former speeches, blogs, and poetry. I also invite you to join me for a Mindfulness-Meditation and Yoga session. It is my hope you will be inspired by my journey and be reminded no matter what cards you were dealt, in the end YOU have the power to choose your destiny rather than allowing anyone else to dictate to you who you are and your worth.

Founder
Demetrius Napolitano

Demetrius was placed in New York City’s foster care system when he was under a year old, and after experiencing 30 different placements, he transitioned from the system when he was 22-years-old. He was adopted at the age of ten and then placed back into foster care three years later before getting adopted again at the age of 20. During his time in care, he was physically, mentally, and sexually abused; placed on psychotropic medications to treat depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and experienced a short stay inside a juvenile detention for a few months before deciding to take charge of his life.

After graduating from St. John’s University with his associate’s in business management, he graduated from New York University with his bachelor’s in political science. In 2019, he started a GoFund Me, raised over $17,000, and traveled to India to study how to use Meditation and Yoga to help him heal from the complex trauma he incurred from the foster and criminal justice system. Once Demetrius returned from his sojourn in June 2020, he founded Fostering Meditation (FM) to help youth in foster care learn the same tools he would later call “The Five Steps 2 Wellness”: Meditation, Yoga, Expressive Writing, Community, & Nutrition. Demetrius envisions bringing FM to youth in foster care throughout the country, creating more communities of people who are breathing, meditating, and healing together! 

Board of Directors

Charles Buice_0
Charles Buice
Chairman

Tiger Foundation
President

Saroya
Saroya Friedman-Gonzalez
Board Member
Jamel Robinson
Jamel Robinson
Co-Charimen
Jeremy K.
Jeremy Kohomban
Board Member

Children’s Village
President and CEO

Dawn Post
Dawn Post
Treasurer
Rasheba
Rasheba Johnson
Board Member