Let It Be Us Receives Grant From The Barrington Area Community Foundation To Establish Corporate Sponsorship Program

The Barrington Area Community Foundation has announced the recipients of their annual grants and Let It Be Us has been chosen to receive funding to establish a Corporate Sponsorship Program.

“Our success critically relies on support from our corporate partners. We are providing corporations the opportunity to become part of our innovative initiatives intended to improve opportunities for children in Illinois foster care, including those awaiting adoption.,” said Matt Hower, Let It Be Us Treasurer.

“One of the strengths of Let It Be Us is our marketing with our reach among families and, especially, families built through foster care and adoption. We literally connect with thousands of families daily in the Northern Region, Chicago, and throughout the entire State of Illinois,” said Susan McConnell, Founder and Executive Director. “2024 marks our 10th year of work and our marketing and social media are stronger than ever!”

The Barrington Area Community Foundation has awarded a total of $400,000 in 2024 to organizations that impact underserved populations. Let It Be Us serves children in Illinois foster care, including those awaiting adoption. The following Let It Be Us Programs improve lifetime outcomes for vulnerable children as follows:

Placement Support Program: This “open home navigator” Program serves workers in need of licensed and appropriate foster homes for youth in emergent need and those challenging to place. This program operates a database of licensed and open homes combined with geo targeted search tools. This Program alleviates strain on caseworkers and investigators, allowing for faster and stronger placements. It also alleviates shelter capacity, psy ward capacity, detention ward capacity, keeps kids from spending nights in offices

Foster Parent Recruitment and Referral Program: We recruit new foster parents via our forward facing website, Zoom webinars, and live events. We provide foster care educational training within different touch points of our sales funnel to further strengthen the resolve of the new recruits that we refer directly to recruiters. Direct referrals to recruiters via our Foster Care Licensing Navigators circumvents 800 numbers and website forms which is where we see a gap in recruitment and licensing. This Program focuses on teens, LGBTQ, sibling groups, and special needs.

Springboard to Adulthood Program: This Program is an Independent Living Program that focuses on recruitment and placement for teens with an emphasis on finding lifelong homes and providing unique supportive services to help this population succeed.

Special Families Program: Focuses on recruitment and placement for youth with Down Syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy and medical complexities. This is a new Program that is being newly staffed.

Corporate sponsors interested in working with Let It Be Us and play a role in significantly improving child welfare in Illinois may contact Susan McConnell, Executive Director, at susanmcconnell@letitbeus.org.

About Let It Be Us

Let It Be Us is an Illinois 501(c)3 and licensed child welfare agency dedicated to changing the landscape of foster care and adoption in Illinois. The mission of Let It Be Us is to provide collaborative, innovative solutions of effective recruitment and placement for children in Illinois foster and adoptive care. The Let It Be Us vision is for all children in the Illinois child welfare system to achieve educational equity, employment equity, and overall well being through the incorporation of Let It Be Us Programming into statewide advancements in foster care adoption recruitment and placement. For more information about Let It Be Us, visit www.letitbeus.org.