Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Division honors Childfirst Services, Inc. (CFS), under the direction of chief executive officer Dr. Nathaniel J. Williams, for providing individually based, quality services to children, youth, and underserved populations.

CFS has more than 20 years of experience in managing a network of group residences structured as family-style homes. In the past two years, CFS has more than doubled the number of children served—from 50 to 110—and has grown from 10 group homes to 18.

Dr. Williams grew up in foster care himself and carries with him a passion and vision for improving services to vulnerable children. Recognizing that many kids placed by the Department of Human Services at CFS were juvenile sex trafficking victims, Dr. Williams reached out to the FBI for a training on the juvenile sex trafficking problem for his staff. Dr. Williams and his staffers meet FBI Philadelphia representatives whenever there is a need to provide emergency shelter for juvenile trafficking victims—day or night.

Dr. Williams and his staff take a personal interest in the well being of each child and work to ensure that they get connected with the resources and services to meet their specific needs. In addition to providing housing, CFS works to close the education gap for students who have dropped out of school without making them feel defeated about how far they’ve fallen behind.