UCC-related Hoyleton Youth and Family Services in Illinois Granted Tier One Status

If you visit the Hoyleton Youth and Family Services campus in Hoyleton, Ill. on a weekday around 8:30 a.m., it might look like the streets in most neighborhoods: youth scurrying around, making their way to school just in time for the opening bell. The campus is where almost 40 boys and girls live 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each has their own unique story, but all have been referred by the state of Illinois.

This year, the Residential Care program at the Hoyleton campus was granted Tier One status from Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services.  It’s a classification that only a few similar programs in Illinois receive. The status is based on key performance scores that measure the program’s ability to successfully retain youth in treatment, present opportunities, and enable youth to grow in core-life areas.

“The Tier One classification shows we’re looking at outcomes, and the state is measuring our performance on ways we’re treating youth,” says Brice Bloom-Ellis, Chief Program Officer at Hoyleton. “It indicates the viability of our program. Data measures our work which shows we perform at a higher level.  And that makes Hoyleton a preferred provider to the State.”

Hoyleton’s Residential Care staff — including counselors, administrators and educators — work together to ensure each young resident has the tools and structured experiences, like school, to move from their challenging past into a new, productive future.

A significant factor to the programs’ success is the staff’s willingness to improve at every step. Just last year, the program adopted an evidenced-based practice model developed from mental and behavioral health experts at Cornell University. The practice model is called CARE. Hoyleton is just one of only 50 agencies in the United States chosen by Cornell to implement the model.