James Kirkwood grew up wanting to be a pastor – and a police officer. He did both. Kirkwood served for more than 30 years with the Memphis Police Department, rising to the rank of colonel, leading two of the city’s police precincts.
Blog Articles
Learning how to cope
Nineteen-year-old Trinity has learned many life skills through the Youth Villages LifeSet program, which serves as a bridge from foster care to successful adulthood and helps young adults build the skills they need to live independently and successfully.
Youth Villages Leadership Council sets sail to raise $7,400 for Backpack Heroes
How do you kick off the official start of summer? For the Youth Villages Leadership Council, the answer was a sailboat cruise around Boston Harbor with 75 of their friends.
LifeSet partner agencies convene in Philadelphia
Leaders from all 20 implementing LifeSet partner agencies attended a convening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to learn more about effectively implementing the program model and to share insights from implementations in their states and jurisdictions.
Coming Full Circle – Brett’s Story
At 6 years old, Brett entered foster care. He spent 11 years in and out of group homes and different foster placements. Finding a permanent home felt like it was never going to happen for him.
LifeSet gives Tresja confidence to move forward
LifeSet helps young people identify and achieve their goals, but it also does more. For Tresja, it was the intangible benefits the program provided that meant so much to her.
LifeSet to launch in Central Washington with Catholic Charities
LifeSet is moving east in the Evergreen State. In mid-June, Catholic Charities Serving Central Washington was announced as the new partner to provide LifeSet in the area. The organization will serve youth in Yakima, Benton and Franklin counties with LifeSet under contract with the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF).
LifeSet’s Helen Baker grows through challenges, successes in Seattle
Helen Baker is the LifeSet program director at the Y Social Impact Center, a part of the YMCA of Greater Seattle that serves King and Pierce Counties in Washington. Baker, who started as a LifeSet specialist, has been with the YMCA’s program since it began in 2016. In this Q&A, she offers insight into the successes and challenges that LifeSet has experienced in Washington.
LifeSet Gives Student a Chance to Run towards success
Ares Epps is a LifeSet participant, LifeSet Scholar and a North Carolina State University student athlete, who has accomplished many of his goals through track and field, and with the support of Youth Villages. The LifeSet program offers youth who are aging out of foster care tools to ease the transition from childhood to adulthood.
Meet Memphis Allies: Brandon and Bryan Mathis, Life Coaches
The man was shot and killed in front of his 2-year-old daughter. It was another senseless homicide in Memphis; another child traumatized by gun violence. To Brandon and Bryan Mathis and the Memphis Allies team, this man, this incident was more than just a statistic.