“After briefly working as a probation counselor, Lawler in 1980 came to what was then known as Dogwood Village — an intensive foster care program and the forerunner to Youth Villages.
‘In the 1980s, we were struggling just to survive,’ he said. ‘Financially, and taking care of the kids.’
Today, Youth Villages has about 100 locations in 23 states, 3,200 employees — around 1,000 of them owning a master’s degree or higher — and a $250 million operating budget.”