Click here for the awards nomination packet.
Click here for the Awards Brochure.


Alliance Agency of the Year

In the tradition of the Alliance’s Robert Rice Innovative Program Award and the H. Barksdale Brown Volunteer of the Year Award,
the Alliance will honor three of its member agencies at the conference. Members will be recognized for their accomplishments across a full spectrum of leadership and management areas, including board participation and support; impact of advocacy efforts on a local, state, or national level; and innovative programs. These awards will be given to organizations from three similar peer groups, as defined by agency size.

$6 million or below personnel budget:

• St. Aemilian-Lakeside
  Milwaukee, WI
  
  St. Aemilian-Lakeside has used the expertise that comes with 158 years of meeting the human service needs of the Milwaukee community to become champions for children aging out of foster care. In fact, due to the services and advocacy efforts of St. Aemilian-Lakeside, the clear gap in service for these young people may be filled in the state of Wisconsin.
  
  To support all the organization’s efforts, the St. Aemilian-Lakeside Board of Directors is involved in strategic planning and synthesizes national, state, and local trend data to help create a working document to guide efforts. The strategic plan focuses on five imperatives: program growth, program innovation, diversification of funding, advocacy, and continuous quality improvement. St. Aemilian-Lakeside’s advocacy efforts are central to the goal of extending foster care services for foster youth up to age 21. Its collaboration with the Wisconsin state association and other colleagues to gain extended benefits for the more than 300 Wisconsin youth in this category each year has resulted in a draft bill that has supporters in the Wisconsin legislature.
  
  St. Aemilian-Lakeside has made a promise to youth to be there for them by implementing a continuum of independent living services. Its desire to help youth transitioning from foster care to independent living and adulthood resulted in Independence Place, a treatment foster home model in an apartment-style home for youth ages 16-18. In addition, the organization has received a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant to provide housing and intensive case management to homeless young adults ages 18-25 who experience mental illness. Its Youth Transitioning to Adulthood Scholars program pairs foster care alumni with a case manager for 3-5 years to support the young adult’s needs for education, employment, housing, and healthcare.
  
  Finally, with a grant from the Alliance, St. Aemilian-Lakeside and another Alliance member worked with foster youth alumni to participate in self-advocacy and civic engagement activities through a series of trainings and follow-up group sessions.

Above $6 million personnel budget:

• Northeast Parent & Child Society
  Schenectady, NY
  
  The Capital District Business Review was on to something when it named Northeast Parent & Child Society as Nonprofit of the Year. Now, the Alliance for Children and Families adds to the accolades for this successful organization, further lauding its extraordinary commitment to its staff and community. Establishing such a strong organization is only possible with an excellent board of directors. In 2007 the board committed to a complete overhaul of the board leadership and governance processes to align with best practices. Each board member has provided a commitment to take on more roles to advance the mission of Northeast, such as securing corporate sponsorships for fundraising events and advocating with county officials.
  
  Other awards for being one of the best places to work in its region have come after Northeast increased base salaries, built in more paid time off, and significantly improved benefits for its employees. Northeast also provides its staff with more than 20,000 total hours of training each year. Northeast, in conjunction with colleagues throughout New York and the state association secured state funding to overhaul seven of the state’s residential facilities. In fact, Northeast was instrumental in getting the original designated funding doubled to $60 million. Utilizing a bond for $10.1 million from this fund, Northeast is now replacing its 55-year-old children’s home. Essential efforts to help people find and secure jobs has been a major focus of Northeast. After just two years, the organization’s Career Development Department has grown from just one employee to 40 and an annual budget of $2.9 million.
  
  Northeast is now in the process of implementing a career center for youth ages 16 - 24. In addition to increasing the number of youth receiving career services from 100 to 500 each year, Northeast will help place 150 program graduates each year into well paying jobs in high-demand fields. Partnerships with more than 40 corporations, government agencies, other nonprofit organizations, eight local unions, and 10 chambers of commerce have helped make the career center a great success.

Spirit of the Alliance Award

The Spirit of the Alliance Award will be given to a direct service staff member of an Alliance member organization. This award will recognize the individual’s direct service to clients, commitment to his or her organization, and dedicated service to children, families, and communities.

Jerome Garrison, LMFT
    Family & Children First
    Louisville, KY

• Despite some of the odds being against him, Jerome Garrison has chosen to help families struggling with few economic and social resources, mentor foster care youth, provide parent education, and promote character development in children and families at Family & Children First for more than 16 years. A licensed marriage and family therapist, Jerome overcame a childhood that included abuse and years in the foster care system to help others.
  
  One way he is effective for his clients is by utilizing his talent and interest in music and poetry in his therapy to help them heal from their abuse and violence. In fact, Jerome helped create a DVD of music for a family that had experienced child abuse and the murder of both parents in a short span. He set their story to words and music and family members actually sang and participated in the filming.
  
  Jerome’s special affection for minority youth and helping them avoid gangs and heal from child abuse and neglect, murders, community violence, and personal traumas was more than evident when he was brutally attacked by a group of boys while walking home from work last year. Despite being a victim of a random attack that left him with serious injuries, he recovered quickly and expressed his desire to intensify his efforts to reach out to these boys and provide alternative, diversionary means rather than enact formal punishment.
  
  In addition to his work at Family & Children First, Jerome is a pastor at Frankfort Avenue Church of Christ, where he has an active youth group. The Kentucky Association for Marriage and Family Therapy recently awarded Jerome a lifetime achievement award because of his profound and tireless community efforts to help those less fortunate.

Alliance Ambassador

All Alliance Ambassadors will be recognized at the conference for their ongoing commitment to strengthening and building the Alliance for Children and Families national network.

Any questions?  Please contact Hillary Hanson, meetings assistant.