Today the White House honored 12 former foster youth as “Champions of Change” who are making a difference in their communities. In addition to honoring these young people for their courage, resilience, and contributions, the event highlighted their commitment to furthering their education. The event showcased the stories and work of these inspirational leaders as a part of National Foster Care Month.

The Champions of Change program was created as an opportunity for the White House to feature individuals doing extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their communities.

Among the honorees were Mary Lee, national coordinator for Youth Villages’ YVLifeSet program, and Sixto Cancel, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University and member of Youth Villages’ YV Scholar program.

Mary Lee

Mary Lee, Memphis, Tennessee
Mary Lee, Esq., serves as National YVLifeSet Coordinator for Youth Villages, a national children’s services nonprofit headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. YVLifeSet helps provide vulnerable young adults, some of whom are aging out of foster care, with the skills necessary to achieve their fullest potential. At Youth Villages, Lee helped to establish the YV Scholars program, which offers young adults in YVLifeSet additional support to meet their educational goals. One of Lee’s greatest achievements was helping ensure foster youth adopted from state custody would not have to choose between being adopted by a family and pursuing higher education, as she did. Her story inspired the Fostering Adoption to Further Student Achievement Act (nicknamed the Mary Lee Act). Mary Lee is a graduate of Austin Peay State University and The Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis.

Sixto Cancel

Sixto Cancel, Richmond, Virginia
Sixto Cancel is a college student and a Young Adult Consultant with the Children’s Bureau, working in the Center for State Capacity. As a commitment maker for the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU), Cancel founded Think of Us, a non-profit dedicated to innovating with data, technology and multi-media to serve vulnerable populations. His dedication to helping young people succeed in life started in high school with Stellar Works, his initiative to provide SAT and remedial education programing for students in foster care. He has also served as a member of the National Foster Care and Alumni Policy Council, as an advisory member to the American Institutes for Research LGBTQQA Advisory Board, and currently serves as a board member of the North American Council on Adoptable Children. Cancel is a fourth year student at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Youth Villages congratulates Mary and Sixto on this tremendous honor!

Large, Rigorous Study Shows Youth Villages Program Increases Economic Well-being, Reduces Homelessness

MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and social policy research firm, released encouraging results today from a rigorous evaluation of Youth Villages’ transitional living program, called YVLifeSet, for young adults aging out of the foster care and juvenile justice systems. After one year, the program boosted earnings, increased housing stability and economic well-being, and improved outcomes related to health and safety for a population of very disadvantaged young people.

Read the full study on MDRC.org.

Young people who have spent time in the foster care or juvenile justice systems often experience poor outcomes as adults. Compared with their peers, they are less likely to obtain a high school credential or be employed, and more likely to experience homelessness, criminal justice involvement and mental health concerns, among other issues. The largest random assignment evaluation of a program serving this population, the MDRC study shows that YVLifeSet is one of the only programs that improves multiple outcomes for youth turning 18 and aging out of foster care and juvenile justice.

MDRC, with Mark Courtney of the University of Chicago, conducted a rigorous random assignment study of the YVLifeSet program in Tennessee, involving more than 1,300 young adults. The evaluation is being funded by The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, The Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Key findings after one year of follow-up include:

• The program boosted earnings by 17 percent, increased housing stability and economic well-being (including a 22 percent decrease in the likelihood of experiencing homelessness), and improved some of the primary outcomes related to health and safety (including improvements in mental health and a decrease in intimate partner violence). It has not yet shown significant improvement in outcomes in the areas of education, social support or criminal involvement.
• The program was found to be equally effective across different subgroups of youth, including youth with and without histories of juvenile justice custody.

“Until now, research on programs for young people aging out of foster care or juvenile justice systems has shown just how difficult it is to make a positive difference in their lives,” said MDRC President Gordon Berlin. “The Youth Villages intervention stands out as one program that demonstrably improves these young people’s well-being across a wide range of outcomes. Understanding whether these gains are sustained will be critically important.”

YVLifeSet provides intensive, individualized and clinically focused case management, support and services to young adults with histories of foster care or juvenile justice custody. Young people participating in the program meet once a week – and often more – with their YVLifeSet specialist, who is trained in helping young adults navigate all aspects of adulthood. The specialist helps young people identify their goals and develop the life skills needed to reach those goals and to live successfully and independently. Specialists are on call 24/7 for the young people as they work on education, career, housing, financial, relationship and health goals.

Since Youth Villages started the YVLifeSet program in 1999, more than 7,500 young adults have participated in Tennessee, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Mississippi, Oregon, Florida, and Georgia.

“These young people are often the most vulnerable youth in our communities,” said Patrick Lawler, Youth Villages CEO. “At Youth Villages, we measure all our work, and in the late ’90s, we noticed that older teens who had spent the most time in foster care were the youth who had the worst outcomes. We developed the YVLifeSet program in 1999 to address their needs specifically. We’ve gotten great results with the program and are excited that the study shows the program’s effectiveness.”

Results for America and Youth Villages are convening a roundtable of experts to discuss the findings and their broader policy implications on May 20, 8:30-10:30 am, in 2168 Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. To register, visit www.youthvillages.org/whatworks.

In 2016, MDRC will release two-year impact findings based on administrative data in the education, employment and earnings, and criminal involvement domains, as well as findings from a benefit-cost analysis.

As part of the collective effort led by Give an Hour, Youth Villages joined 50 other campaign partners in this effort with its pledge to spread awareness of the five signs of emotional suffering to the 23,000 children it helps each year and their families. The organization will use its 2,700 staff and all of its communication channels to spread the word to donors, volunteers, mentors and foster and adoptive parents.

Inspired by discussions at the White House National Conference on Mental Health in 2013, “Change Direction” is a response to the way society addresses mental health. One in five Americans lives with a diagnosable mental health condition, and it is expected that more Americans will die by suicide than in car accidents this year.

“Youth Villages is proud to join this important effort because recognizing the signs and symptoms of mental illness is so important to the well-being of America’s children and families,” said Tim Goldsmith, Ph.D, chief clinical officer for Youth Villages. “Mental illness can limit a child’s potential for success, but effective help is available. Recognizing the signs of illness early can make all the difference in getting the right help.”

The campaign launched at a mental health summit at the Newseum on March 4, which included a keynote address from First Lady Michelle Obama, an appearance by Academy Award-winning producer of “Silver Linings Playbook,” Brue Cohen, and a performance by G.R.L., a musical girl group that was personally touched by the issue when their lead singer, Simone Battle, committed suicide in September 2014.

“Give an Hour is proud to lead this collective impact effort of partners from every sector of society as we change the direction of mental health in our nation,” said Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, founder and president of Give an Hour. “By creating a shared mission, by educating Americans about the five signs of emotional suffering, by encouraging compassion and action, we can change our culture to reflect what we know to be true—that mental health is not something to be afraid of or embarrassed about.”

Youth Villages encourages individuals and other organizations to “help change the direction” of mental health in our country and let your voices be heard by joining us in making a pledge, however large or small. The simplest pledge is one that anyone can do: Learn the five signs of emotional suffering so you can recognize them in yourself or help a loved one who may be in emotional pain. To learn more or to make a pledge to Change Direction, visit www.changedirection.org.

About The Campaign to Change Direction
The Campaign to Change Direction initiative is a collection of concerned citizens, nonprofit leaders, and leaders from the private sector who have come together to create a new story in America about mental health, mental illness, and wellness. This initiative was inspired by the discussion at the White House National Conference on Mental Health in 2013, which came on the heels of the Newtown tragedy.

Youth Villages was one of the nonprofit organizations highlighted in journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book “A Path Appears.” Monday PBS will debut a four-hour video series showcasing stories from the book.

Tonight Diane Sawyer will give ABC Nightline viewers a preview of the series in an interview with Kristof.

Kristof mentions Youth Villages during his book tours.

“Youth Villages is just a wonderful example of the kind of evidence that has emerged,” he said. “Here you have a program that helps at-risk teenagers that was built on evidence and carefully trying different approaches, seeing what works and bringing that into the model. Youth Villages is spreading across the country because local and state governments have realized that they can save a ton of money. It turns lives around, but the thing that is equally striking about it is that it works, and it saves money as well.

“A basic maxim of the 21st century is that talent is universal, but opportunity is not,” the author said. “Youth Villages is one of those that are helping make that a little less true by spreading opportunity.”

“We look at these monumental problems, and they seem so daunting, Sheryl WuDunn said. “But we can change the course of history. We can set these young children onto a much more promising path.”

The PBS series has the same goal of revealing societal injustice and highlighting successful initiatives. The series follows Kristof, WuDunn and a group of celebrity activists on a journey across the country and around the world as they uncover human rights violations and gender-based oppression. The celebrities include Malin Akerman, Mia Farrow, Jennifer Garner, Ashley Judd, Blake Lively, Eva Longoria and others.

“The title is from Lu Xun, a prominent Chinese writer, who said that hope is like a path in the countryside,” WuDunn said. “At first, there is no path but as more and more people walk again and again, a path appears. A solution appears. It is about innovative strategies for making a difference.”

Kristof, columnist for The New York Times since 2001 and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, co-wrote the book with his wife WuDunn after years of dedicated journalism by the two focusing on human rights issues in the developing world. They have covered countless global problems with a concentration on Darfur since 2004.

In the book, they show how individuals, foundations and nonprofit organizations can make a significant difference in solving societal problems, identifying successful local, national and global initiatives.

Youth Villages is one of the organizations recognized. In a chapter titled “Coaching Troubled Teens,” Kristof and WuDunn identify Youth Villages’ intensive in-home services that help troubled youth live successfully as an effective approach.

“YV argues that with the right support and scrutiny, half of the 600,000 kids in America being raised in effect by the state (including foster care) could remain with their families or relatives, saving tens of millions of dollars annually and reducing the trauma and upheaval for those children,” they write.

The book features the story of Fred Burns, a Mississippi native who was helped by several Youth Villages programs and now participates in Youth Villages’ transitional living program.

“With this new stability in his life, Fred began to excel in sports and academics. He became the first member of his immediate family to graduate from high school, and he did it in style: he was valedictorian, with a 4.25 GPA. Fred accepted an academic scholarship to Mississippi State University, was successful as a walk-on to the football team, and later transferred to Jackson State University to major in computer engineering.”

Kristof and WuDunn’s book tour began Sept. 23 in New York City and will end Nov. 18 in Miami. “A Path Appears” will also be the basis of a four-hour PBS series as a special presentation of “Independent Lens” airing in early 2015.

Hart, star of the television show Melissa & Joey, recently launched King of Harts with her husband, Mark Wilkerson. Proud parents of three young sons, the pair were inspired to create a line of “cool, durable and quality boys clothes.” Hart was the child star of Clarissa Explains It All and teen star of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.

Check out Hart’s new line here, stock up on great clothing for the boys in your life, and pick up a Louie Tee that supports Youth Villages.

(Starting second from left) Youth Villages transitional living program participants Bianca Christian, Mariah Hunt and Fred Burns look on during the March 7 workshop with First Lady Michelle Obama and entertainers Patti LaBelle, Melissa Etheridge and Janelle Monáe at the White House.

Twenty participants in the Youth Villages transitional living program for former foster children joined more than 120 middle school, high school and college-level students from across the country for a “History of Women in Soul Music” educational program and concert at the White House March 7.

First Lady Michelle Obama hosted “I’m Every Woman: The History of Women in Soul,” a student workshop in the State Dining Room. The educational event was in conjunction with the PBS music special “Women of Soul: In Performance in the White House,” produced by The GRAMMY Museum. It included a history of the origins of soul music by Grammy Museum Executive Director Robert Santelli. He was joined by special music guests Patti LaBelle, Melissa Etheridge and Janelle Monáe, who also appeared in the concert later that evening. During the workshop, these artists shared their experiences and answered students’ questions.

At the end of a question-and-answer session with the performers, the students shared their own musical talents with an impromptu sing-a-long of Arthur Conley’s classic hit, “Do You Like Good Music?” The singers included Youth Villages’ transitional living participants Melissa Howard, Darrah Hall and Sherika Wilkes. Watch the entire program below (to see the sing-a-long, skip ahead to the 58:24 mark of the video).

Learn more about the transitional living program and the challenges young adults face after aging out of foster care at lostat18.org.

“Women of Soul: In Performance at the White House” will be broadcast Monday, April 7 at 9 p.m. (EDT) on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings).

The Commercial Appeal: Memphis students sing at White House (subscribers only).

Written by Youth Villages CEO Patrick Lawler and Jessica Foster, director of strategy, the article focuses on how to make “pay for success” contracting work, using experience gained from more than seven years of contracts with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. “Pay for Success” contracting has been touted to improve outcomes for children while increasing accountability for taxpayers and is one aspect of the movement toward performance-based contracting.

Despite some challenges in implementation, performance-based contracting in Tennessee’s child welfare system has led to better outcomes for children and families, Lawler and Foster said.

“In the first three years, care day utilization went down by 8 percent, and permanent exits went up 6 percent – without any increase in reentries to care,” they said. “These percentages may sound like fairly small improvements, but they are pointing in the right direction and mean that hundreds of children each year are achieving permanency.” A permanent exit from the child welfare system happens when a child is successfully reunited with his or her birth parents or becomes a part of a family through adoption.

The article says the best performance-based contracts give providers flexibility and include transparent and consistent data collection. The best contracts ensure that all providers are compared against common benchmarks, take each provider’s population mix into account and over time, shift “market share” to providers that produce the best outcomes, the nonprofit executives concluded.

“Absent that redistribution, states will fall short of delivering the best possible outcomes for troubled youth,” Lawler said. Despite the challenges, Youth Villages is an advocate for the pay for performance concept, he said.

“The current system of pay-for-outputs government contracting is not focused enough on real outcomes that we – providers, government, everyone who cares about kids and families – seek,” the authors concluded. “We believe that performance-based contracting has potential to achieve better results on limited budgets.”

Stern, a former head of NPR and longtime nonprofit executive, wrote the book after three years spent researching the nonprofit sector and discovering how few charities could provide verifiable success stories.

“We direct enormous resources to this sector and place substantial social responsibilities on it, yet the vast majority of charities can’t demonstrate any commensurate return on those investments,” Stern writes.

“I learned that it’s easy to find a nonprofit’s glossy fundraising brochures and carefully crafted inspirational videos. However, I discovered, they often mask the group’s underlying problems, ranging from inefficiency and waste to outright fraud. I also had a much harder time turning up charities that could prove they were making important, measurable differences in people’s lives, though I did find a few.”

In a chapter titled “Dawn of the New Charity,” Stern profiles Youth Villages as one organization with a highly successful, evidence-based program, which benefited from rigorous attention to the long-term success of children and families, commitment to successful treatment philosophies and strategic planning.

“Innovative, results-driven, flexible and strategic, Youth Villages is literally a textbook case, studied at Harvard Business School. Its success is a testament to the possibility of reinvention and the benefits of investment in strategy, research, and infrastructure, and a vote for dramatic expansion despite all the hobbles of the charitable system.”

“With Charity for All” is available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other book sellers.

Clinton McDonald (center), a defensive tackle for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and former University of Memphis football player, visited with boys at the Youth Villages Center for Intensive Residential Treatment in Bartlett, Tenn., July 8. The Commercial Appeal | Photo by Yolanda M. James

Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Clinton McDonald visited with boys at the Youth Villages Center for Intensive Residential Treatment July 8, playing a game of dodgeball and give them an encouraging pep talk about setting and reaching their goals in life.

“To be honest with you, if you look at some of the communities that the kids come up in, it’s not too much different from where I came from,” said McDonald, who grew up in Jacksonville, Ark. “Coming back here is a big thing today. It’s real big, bigger than any football game, any practice, any workout because you’re not just affecting yourself, you’re affecting other lives.”

McDonald played for the University of Memphis and makes an effort to reach out to kids in the community whenever he returns to the Memphis area. Youth Villages is grateful to Mr. McDonald for being so generous with his time.

Read the full story at The Commercial Appeal.

To learn more about volunteering, visit youthvillages.org.