[Harrisburg, PA – January 16, 2020] Three organizations have been named winners in the 2019 Aging Out Institute Awards competition for their effective strategies helping youth successfully transition to adulthood when they age out of foster care.
 
The Aging Out Institute (AOI) Awards Program celebrates the positive impact and influence of nonprofits, government agencies, and social enterprise organizations that work with youth who age out of foster care. The awards program supports AOI’s mission to identify and share award winners’ best practices with foster care professionals throughout the world.
 
“Winning an AOI award is a significant accomplishment. With peer judges and tough judging criteria, only the most deserving programs receive recognition,” said Lynn Tonini, Founder and Owner of Aging Out Institute. “The programs that won awards this year are outstanding. We can’t wait to publish the white papers that will describe the award winning strategies for everyone in the foster care field to read, learn from, and even apply in their own organizations.”
 
This year’s panel of judges included experts and practitioners in the field of foster care. In fact, two of the judges are in leadership roles in programs that won awards in the 2018 awards program. The four judges this year came from California, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
 
During the judging process, the panel of judges compare the organization’s strategies with those that have been identified in research to be effective helping foster youth transition to independence without a family support system. They also look for innovative and creative concepts, strong execution and program structure, outcome metrics, and the ability to communicate and persuade. After careful consideration, the judges selected the following organizations as the winners of the 2019 Awards Program (by category):
 
Life Skills:  City Living NY – New York
Relationships:  Safe Families for Children – Rhode Island
Holistic Services:  City Living NY – New York
 
“Safe Families PLUS is thrilled to receive this award from the Aging out Institute and to be recognized as an organization helping foster youth transition into adulthood successfully,” shares Brittani Kindle, director for Safe Families PLUS in Chicago. “PLUS believes in a model of consistent and collaborative support founded in relationships because this is what many of our youth seem to miss out on most when they enter the child welfare system. It is our hope that more and more organizations with similar missions can begin to work together to share strategies and resources, in order to improve the outcomes for this important population that so desperately deserves better from all of us.”
~Brittani Kindle, Safe Families PLUS Director
 
“We are immensely honored to be recognized by Aging Out Institute’s 2019 Award Program. There are many great programs across the country serving former foster youth, so we were humbled to receive the award for both Life Skills and Holistic programming. We are proud of the work our organization does to ensure youth aging out of foster care in NYC remain stably housed, learn real world independent living skills, and reach their full potential through continuing education and employment opportunities. These awards are a great statement to our team of amazing social workers that they are making a real impact in the lives of our youth, and that we are so proud of the work they are doing in our community. When foster care ends, our work begins.”
~Liz Northcutt, CLNY Founder and Executive Director
 
Aging Out Institute is a social enterprise dedicated to connecting the dedicated professionals who work with foster youth with resources and strategies that help youth age out of foster care and into adulthood successfully. Additional information about Aging Out Institute can be found on the AOI website at www.agingoutinstitute.org. An overview of all the award winners can be found at https://www.agingoutinstitute.org/2019-awards-program-winners/.
 
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