Youth Villages stories

CONTACT:      Crissy Lintner, Director of Marketing and Communications, Youth Villages
901-251-4832 (office) or 901-461-3139 (cell); crissy.lintner@youthvillages.org

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Aug. 4, 2017) – Youth Villages CEO Patrick W. Lawler was included in The NonProfit Times’ 2017 Power & Influence Top 50.

The Power & Influence Top 50 list is compiled annually and pooled from about 300 executives from nonprofit organizations across the country. Chosen by a committee of NonProfit Times staff, contributors and executives, those included on the list must have had a significant impact during the previous 12 months. Lawler is the only nonprofit executive included from Tennessee.

Lawler was chosen primarily for his work in developing the organization’s continuum of research-based programs that range from in-home services to intensive residential centers. Youth Villages has more than 2,800 employees who work from 72 locations across the country. The organization’s approach is rooted in providing the most effective help to children, families and young people in the least restrictive setting, preferably the home.

The committee particularly cited the YVLifeSet program that helps former foster youth find success as independent adults. YVLifeSet is one of the only programs for former foster youth in the country that has shown positive impacts for young people across many areas of their lives in a large randomized controlled trial. A five-year study by MDRC showed that YVLifeSet decreases homelessness, increases employment and earnings, increases mental health and decreases domestic violence. Youth Villages has helped more than 10,000 young people in the program since 1999 and is partnering with other high-performing nonprofits to make effective help available to each of the 23,000 young people who age out of state care in the United States by 2026.

“It is an honor to be listed among some of the best nonprofit leaders in the country, and I am pleased to be included on this year’s Power & Influence Top 50,” Lawler said. “Youth Villages is accomplishing amazing things for children and families across the country, but we still have much to do to help reform foster care systems across our country. The next few years will be exciting, as we work to reach more than 25,000 children and families across the U.S.”

Download the full Power & Influence Top 50 list here.

About Youth Villages
Youth Villages is a private nonprofit organization that helps more than 25,000 of America’s most vulnerable children and families each year in 13 states. It is one of the largest providers of children’s behavioral services in Tennessee and widely recognized across the country. Youth Villages has been recognized by Harvard Business School and U.S. News & World Report, and was identified by The White House as one of the nation’s most promising results-oriented nonprofit organizations. For more information about Youth Villages, visit youthvillages.org.

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