Think Out Loud

A nonprofit organization called Youth Villages started in Tennessee more than 30 years ago. In that time, it’s helped that state both improve the lives of foster kids and save the state money on the child welfare system. Its key features include: providing services to kids and their biological families at home, supporting foster kids who age out of the system, and relentless data tracking to make sure its programs work as designed. Youth Villages has a small but important and growing presence in Oregon. We sit down with its founder and CEO, Patrick Lawler.