So much of our work is inspired by the powerful stories we hear from young people and families about their dreams for the future and their determination to pursue them. That hope fuels our commitment to explore new programs, policies and partnerships to open the doors of opportunity — and as you’ll see in this report, those efforts are making a real difference.
In 2024, we saw notable progress across our work.
In South Carolina, where Casey has been working for the past several years, kin placements increased by 295% — meaning more children have been able to stay with loving family members rather than being placed in group or other foster care settings. These placements help preserve vital family and community connections, which are essential to healthy development.
Nearly 2,800 young people completed job training through Generation Work, equipping them with in-demand technical and professional skills aligned with employer needs across a range of industries. Another 2,400 participated in high-quality apprenticeships, gaining hands-on experience across 115 occupational pathways — a proven strategy for launching strong careers and building economic mobility.
More than 8,300 young people earned wages through YouthWorks in Baltimore, offering them not just a paycheck but also job readiness support, mentorship and meaningful exposure to the workforce.
In a bipartisan showing, elected officials, business leaders and philanthropy heads joined together for the inaugural National Child Care Innovation Summit to help tackle the nation’s child care crisis, which is critical for growth and enabling workforce participation.
We’re encouraged by this momentum, and we remain focused on pushing even further, especially in one area where we continue to seek new horizons: supporting youth and young adults ages 14 to 24.
That’s exactly what the Foundation’s Thrive by 25® effort is all about. It’s a bold commitment to ensure adolescents — especially those facing the steepest barriers — have the support, connections and opportunities needed to successfully transition to adulthood. Through this work, we’re investing in solutions to help young people meet basic needs, build strong relationships, pursue education and employment, achieve financial stability and lead in their communities — as well as the policies that make these opportunities possible. By focusing on this stage of life, we’re making sure young people have the resources they need to get off to a good start and prevent crises later in life.
In this year’s report, you’ll hear directly from some partners and communities leading this work. Through a series of short videos, you’ll meet young people finding their purpose through apprenticeships, families navigating child care, youths finding enduring connections and advocates reimagining what safety can look like in their neighborhoods. These stories are a powerful reminder that the best solutions come from those closest to the challenges — and that with the right support, every young person has the potential to succeed.
Those are key themes in a book that I’ve spent the past year writing. It’s about what it really takes to help young people flourish — and how we can create a society that supports them from the start. It will be published in September, and I look forward to sharing more soon.
As we continue to adjust to the changes unfolding this year, I remain encouraged by the many good things happening across the country because of the efforts of hundreds of hardworking and creative public, private, community and nonprofit leaders — and I want to thank you for being a part of this journey. Together, we will continue to build a future where every child can thrive.
Lisa M. Lawson President & CEO
P.S. Please consider subscribing to our newsletter to follow what we are learning in our work across the nation.
What Guides Us
Across its investments, the Casey Foundation holds a set of core principles that guide how we approach our work and collaborate with others. These principles shape our organizational culture and define how we strive to create meaningful and lasting change.
Using Data to Drive Decisions
Data provide valuable insights that inform better decision making. The Foundation supports strong public data collection and encourages the use of detailed data to understand challenges and identify solutions that benefit all children.
Keeping a Long-Term Perspective
Many of the challenges facing children and families require sustained effort. The Foundation is committed to addressing complex issues with a long-term vision, recognizing that meaningful change takes time.
Encouraging Innovation
Casey invests in research, new solutions and system improvements that help children, young people, families and communities thrive. Not every approach will succeed, but testing and learning from innovation are essential to strengthening opportunities for future generations.
Expanding Opportunity for All
Casey is dedicated to improving the well-being of all children in the United States by expanding access to opportunity. We recognize that different groups of children and youth face diverse challenges, and our work seeks to remove obstacles and ensure that all have a fair chance at success.
Building Partnerships
Lasting change requires broad collaboration. Casey works across communities, political perspectives and sectors to bring people together in pursuit of effective solutions. As part of this work, we recognize the importance of partnering with the young people and families at the center of our investments, ensuring they have a voice in decisions that affect their lives.
Scaling What Works
The Foundation is committed to identifying and expanding the most effective strategies so they can benefit as many children and families as possible.
While many factors contribute to child and family well-being, these investment areas align with the Foundation’s long-standing expertise in economic opportunity, child welfare and juvenile justice, and offer significant potential for meaningful change.
In 2024, the Foundation partnered with nearly 970 organizations, giving more than $105.7 million in grants to address critical challenges affecting children, young people, families and communities. These investments supported programs and services, advanced research and piloted approaches to strengthening systems that serve kids and young people. Our work was guided by collaboration with local communities, helping to identify and scale solutions that deliver meaningful results.
To expand the reach of effective strategies, we invested in evaluation, leadership development, partnerships, strategic communications and policy engagement — helping to inform decision-makers and encourage broader adoption of proven approaches.
While the following results are not exhaustive, they highlight key progress and opportunities for future success.
Basic Needs
Through program, policy and practice investments, Casey works to help children, young people and families secure essentials such as housing, food, safety, health care, transportation and child care. These basic needs are the foundation for well-being and future educational and economic success.
In 2024:
Casey partnered with Community Solutions, Covenant House and Point Source Youth to provide housing and supportive services to young people experiencing homelessness. These organizations served 7,190 young people in two dozen communities across 18 states. THRIVE BY 25
Grantees worked to inform policy efforts to strengthen the safety net for children and families. Colorado, New York, Utah and the District of Columbia enacted or expanded child tax credits, while partners reported progress toward Medicaid expansion in three of the 10 states that have not yet adopted it.
The Foundation co-hosted the Children’s Behavioral Health Policy Lab, convening leaders from nine states to explore strategies for improving youth behavioral health through stronger cross-system coordination.
With support from the Foundation, Maryland Family Network helped secure a $488 million state investment over two years to expand access to child care for families with low incomes. The organization also netted $900,000 to sustain its pilot program to grow the child care workforce. As a result, Maryland licensed 35 new family child care providers last year.
In 2024, Atlanta and Milwaukee expanded the use of trained violence interrupters — residents who help defuse conflicts and connect neighbors to services — through new partnerships. Four of the five sites working with Casey on community safety issues saw continued homicide reductions, including Baltimore (23%), Milwaukee (20%), Atlanta (6%) and Jackson (6%), compared to a 12% national drop.
Drawing on a report
by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, a Casey grantee, and the Bipartisan Policy Center on lost economic activity in North Carolina due to a lack of child care, the state’s general assembly enacted $67.5 million in grants for providers.
In Atlanta, the Standing with Our Neighbors program provided legal advocacy and support in 42 housing cases involving 359 tenants, including 208 children. The program also distributed more than $70,000 in emergency assistance to renters.
We helped the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership construct and sell six affordable townhomes in southwest Atlanta and finance more than 465 affordable housing units. We also supported home repairs for 25 residents who are elderly or have low incomes.
In Baltimore City, local partners provided transitional housing, case management and employment support to 663 young people experiencing homelessness. THRIVE BY 25
With support from the Foundation, DePaul University expanded the use of Act and Adapt, an evidence-based mental health program for Latino and Black adolescents, reaching 826 students. THRIVE BY 25
Grantee Peer Health Exchange — shaped by a Casey-supported youth survey — provided wellness resources to 170,000 users.
The Foundation launched a new set of investments focused on connecting youth and young adults to public benefits and other resources they need to meet their basic needs. As part of this work, the Student Basic Needs Coalition implemented peer navigators on six college campuses to connect 1,113 students to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. THRIVE BY 25
Creating Safer Neighborhoods for Atlanta's Kids and Families: The Foundation invests in community-led strategies to reduce gun violence by training local violence interrupters, supporting hospital partnerships and providing tailored data and policy tools to help cities sustain public safety efforts beyond short-term funding. In Atlanta, a group of residents trained to reduce violence travel by RV through conflict-prone neighborhoods, offering hope, compassion and resources for residents.
Permanent Relationships
Casey invests in helping children, youth and young adults — especially those involved in child welfare and juvenile justice systems who have been disconnected from opportunity — build strong, permanent connections with caring family members and other supportive adults in their community. This work includes funding innovations and promoting better practices to strengthen how these systems operate and to prevent young people from entering them in the first place.
In 2024:
In partnership with the South Carolina Department of Social Services, Casey provided consultation that contributed to a 295% increase in kin placements, significantly reducing the number of children in group settings. Similar efforts in Baltimore City led to a 97% increase.
With ongoing support from the Foundation, 140 Connect parent groups operated in 16 states in 2024, reaching more than 1,200 parents with an evidence-based model designed to reduce parent-teen conflict and build stronger family relationships, lessening the likelihood that they will enter the child welfare system. THRIVE BY 25
With support from the Foundation, Maryland child welfare leaders made policy and practice changes to increase placements with relatives and trusted family friends. These changes included updating licensing regulations so more kin caregivers can access services and financial support and expanding the definition of kin to include close family friends.
Kansas became the first state to enact legislation incorporating the SOUL Family framework, a youth-designed model that supports strong family ties and identifies supportive legal relationships without requiring young people to give up independent living and related support. THRIVE BY 25
Casey began working with 15 jurisdictions to expand or strengthen family resource centers that focus on child safety. These jurisdictions are part of Thriving Families, Safer Children — a national movement of 22 sites, including state, county and sovereign tribal governments, that promotes community-based alternatives to child welfare placements and serves 24 million children.
Casey partnered with the American Probation and Parole Association as it issued a national call to action encouraging juvenile justice agencies to adopt core probation principles that help young people move away from delinquency and toward long-term success. As part of this effort, Casey brought 15 probation chiefs to Pierce County, Washington, to observe probation transformation efforts firsthand. THRIVE BY 25
In Baltimore, B-360 served more than 400 young people through its annual dirt bike summer camp, using dirt bike culture as a tool for engagement and prevention to help keep youth out of the justice system. THRIVE BY 25
To help expand the use of kinship care, prevention and youth service in child welfare systems, grantees and partners worked with Congress to unanimously reauthorize Title IV-B in December, a key source of federal child welfare funding.
SOUL Family Framework for Older Youth in Foster Care: In Kansas, a group of dedicated social workers are helping find forever families for young people in foster care under the new SOUL Family option designed by youth.
Financial Stability
The Foundation works to connect parents and young people with traditional employment, entrepreneurship and financial tools that support long-term stability and well-being. This work includes improving public policies and workforce development systems to better serve youth and families facing financial hardships.
In 2024:
More than 3,380 young people in foster care across 16 states were active in the Foundation’s matched-savings program, Opportunity Passport®. Nearly 500 of these youth were able to save more than $738,430 and purchased 635 assets including vehicles, housing and school expenses. Thrive By 25
The Foundation concluded a two-generation pilot in Chicago aimed at increasing employment opportunities for parents with low incomes, improving their children’s school performance and supporting overall family well-being. More than half of participating families achieved the goals they set for themselves.
More than 2,750 young people completed employment training programs through Casey’s Generation Work partners, who worked with 1,180 businesses to expand job opportunities. Thrive By 25
Through its Good Wages Initiative, grantee EmployIndy secured commitments from 11 new businesses to increase the wages of nearly 1,200 workers, increasing financial stability for many young adults and their families. Thrive By 25
Grantee Civic Nation hosted 20 in-person clinics that helped 921 student borrowers eliminate more than $10.7 million in student debt.
The Foundation launched the five-year Partnership for Youth Financial Wellness initiative with five youth-serving organizations to test, strengthen and expand practices that support young people’s financial well-being. Thrive By 25
Baltimore grantee YouthWorks provided 8,376 young people with paid summer jobs at 613 public and private work sites across the city. Participants worked 25 hours per week for five weeks, earning $15 per hour. Thrive By 25
Pittsburgh Yards®, a Foundation-led development in Atlanta, continued to expand economic and entrepreneurship opportunities in underserved neighborhoods. By the fall, the site had 91 commercial and residential tenants and 74 coworking space users.
The Foundation supported the Community Investment Guarantee Pool, a collaboration of 17 funders working to expand access to capital for businesses often overlooked by traditional lenders. Participating lenders deployed $106 million in financing backed by $37 million in guarantees to date, including $8.2 million in new guarantees supporting small business growth and affordable housing.
Ignite Capital — a new Baltimore-based investment fund we helped launch through grants and social impact investments — financed 30 enterprises, including Citywide Youth Development, which engages youth through entrepreneurship in Baltimore City.
The Georgia Justice Project helped 873 residents learn how to navigate the criminal record expungement process, which can expand access to employment and housing opportunities.
Connecting Young People to Opportunity Through Apprenticeships: The Foundation is expanding access to youth apprenticeships that enable young people to gain hands-on, paid experience and pursue meaningful careers. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, a job training and apprenticeship program is helping young people figure out meaningful career paths while earning money.
Early Care, Education and Credentials
Casey invests in helping children, youth and young adults reach key developmental milestones, graduate from high school and earn postsecondary credentials that support their future success. To achieve this, we promote approaches and policies that expand access to education and career preparation.
In 2024:
Kids on Campus, a Casey-funded initiative launched to help address the shortage of affordable child care for student parents, began placing Head Start classrooms on community college campuses. In its first year, 71 campuses began the process and two centers opened. Thrive By 25
CARE, a new effort to expand child care by helping providers access better facilities, acquired 14 residential properties in Nevada, Colorado and San Diego, California, with nine already in use — creating 72 new child care seats. To date, CARE has acquired 22 properties with the potential to serve 180 children. Thrive By 25
With the Foundation’s support, the Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship funded 14 communities working to launch and expand high-quality youth apprenticeship programs, reaching more than 2,400 participants. Thrive By 25
Local partnerships in Casey’s Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential (LEAP)™ initiative enrolled 271 young people in job training and postsecondary programs, bringing total participation to more than 5,600 since the initiative began in 2016. Thrive By 25
Through the Baltimore Summer Funding Collaborative, partners leveraged $4.2 million to support 72 programs serving approximately 11,100 children and youth from families with low incomes. Nearly 1 in 5 participants engaged in STEM activities. Thrive By 25
Baltimore’s Promise connected 235 recent high school graduates to employment opportunities in high-demand fields through Grads2Careers, while strengthening the capacity of public workforce and education agencies to support young adults. Thrive By 25
Through longtime partner Educare Atlanta, approximately 200 children from birth to pre-kindergarten received high-quality early learning opportunities.
Southside Works, a collaboration of five partners in south Atlanta, provided workforce training and job placement services to 960 residents.
Bringing More Child Care to Working Families: The Foundation is investing in solutions that expand access to affordable, high-quality child care — including efforts to colocate Head Start programs on college campuses and support policy reforms that stabilize the child care workforce and increase family access. Near Akron, Ohio, a local nonprofit working with the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, a Casey grantee, is building the skills of home-based child care providers to run successful businesses.
Community and Youth Leadership
The Foundation supports community members and young people in using their voices, shaping policies that support their success and taking on leadership roles to strengthen and improve their communities.
In 2024:
With Casey’s support, community leaders in the Evidence2Success® initiative partnered to invest in proven programs for children and youth. Between July 2023 and June 2024, these programs reached 408 children and families.
Following a competitive process, the Foundation selected 15 professionals for its signature Children and Family Fellowship® — a 23-month program launching in May 2025 that builds leadership capacity to improve outcomes for children and families. Thrive By 25
Through the Foundation’s Advanced Youth Leadership Institute, 13 young leaders deepened their skills in advocacy and meeting facilitation, codesigning action plans to support youth in or emerging from foster care through community-based work. Thrive By 25
Local leaders in California’s Coachella Valley used the Foundation’s signature leadership development approach, Results Count®, to prioritize housing insecurity as a key driver of poverty and focus collective action on this goal. As a result, Lift to Rise and its partners are on track to add 10,000 new units of affordable housing by 2028.
We support a range of efforts to help the Foundation and its partners better understand the challenges facing children, youth and families; identify effective solutions; and explore new technologies to improve implementation and expand reach.
The 2024 KIDS COUNT® Data Book highlights national and state trends in child well-being, with a president’s letter urging action on chronic absenteeism and pandemic-related declines in reading and math scores to help kids succeed in school and beyond.
As part of a series of publications, the Foundation shared a state-by-state analysis of kinship care policies, highlighting progress and areas for improvement in supporting kin caregivers and children.
The Foundation co-sponsored a first-of-its-kind National Child Care Innovation Summit with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and U.S. Department of Commerce to elevate child care as essential to economic growth and workforce participation, bringing together bipartisan elected officials, including governors; business leaders, such as UPS; philanthropy; and providers.
With support from the Foundation, the Criminal Justice Administrative Record System at the University of Michigan launched the Justice Outcomes Explorer, a dashboard offering insights into how involvement with the justice system affects people’s lives over time. Thrive By 25
The Foundation released the 2024 Race for Results® report, utilizing a comprehensive index based on 12 indicators of child and youth well-being. The report highlights progress in several areas over the past decade and identifies ongoing challenges in preparing all children to achieve crucial milestones.
Casey issued the third installment of the Atlanta-focused Changing the Odds report, examining efforts to address barriers to opportunity faced by many city residents.
Financial Information
The Foundation’s grant making and operations are supported by an endowment established by Jim Casey and his siblings, our founders. Each December, the board sets the annual budget using a formula designed to sustain our work over the long term, recognizing that the problems we focus on are not easily or permanently solved and require ongoing investment. Because our assets fluctuate with market conditions, our spending rate varies from year to year. A list of the Foundation’s grants is available and updated quarterly on Candid.
Tracking Our Progress
By working with our grantees and partners, Casey is committed to ensuring that all children and youth can thrive. To track progress toward this goal, we have identified 18 key indicators that provide a comprehensive picture of child and family well-being at the national level. While the Foundation’s KIDS COUNT index measures overall child well-being, these indicators — aligned with our five investment areas — help assess where progress is being made and where challenges remain.
As new data emerge in the wake of the pandemic, we see signs of improvement in some areas, while others continue to require attention and support to help all children reach their full potential.
Here’s how each indicator is trending following the pandemic (between 2019 and 2023, unless stated otherwise):
Basic Needs
Babies born with low birth weights Worse
Children, youth and young adults (birth to age 24) who lack health insurance Better
Children, youth and young adults (birth to age 24) who live in a household with a high housing cost burden Worse
Children (birth to age 17) who live in unsafe communities Same Comparing 2019–2020 and 2022–2023
Permanent Relationships
Children, youth and young adults (birth to age 21) involved in the child welfare system Better Comparing 2019 and 2021
Children (birth to age 17) who live in two-parent families Same
Youth and young adults (ages 15 to 24) involved in the justice system Better
Children in eighth and 10th grade who have an adult other than their parent that they can turn to when they have a problem Worse
Financial Stability
Children, youth and young adults (birth to age 24) who live in low-income families Better
Children (birth to 17) who live with a householder who has at least a high school diploma Better
Children, youth and young adults (birth to age 24) who live in high-poverty communities Better Comparing 2016–2020 and 2019–2023
Youth and young adults (ages 16 to 24) who are not in school or working Same Comparing 2016–2020 and 2019–2023
Early Care, Education and Credentials
Children (ages 3 to 5) enrolled in nursery school, preschool or kindergarten Worse Comparing 2016–2020 and 2019–2023
Fourth graders who are not proficient readers Worse Comparing 2019 and 2024
Youth and young adults (ages 18 to 24) who have graduated from high school Better
Young people (ages 25 to 29) who have an associate degree or higher Better
Community and Youth Leadership
Young people (ages 16 to 24) who got together to do something positive for the community Better
Adults (ages 25 and older) who got together to do something positive for the community Better
