With the direction of and grant assistance (February 2009) from the Andrus Family Fund of New York City, CYDC is currently incorporating the Transition Framework into all of its residential programming. From its inception in 2000, the Andrus Family Fund (AFF) has incorporated William Bridges' Transition Framework (TF) into all the projects it funds, guided by the firm belief that an understanding of the TF will improve the chances of these projects' long-term success.

The TF works on the principle that any external change a person goes through needs to be accompanied by an internal change process. One first has to give up old ways or ideas (Endings), move through an in-between phase (the Neutral Zone), before one is finally ready to adopt a new way of life (a New Beginning).

To further enhance its programs, CYDC has partnered with the Duke Endowment and Cornell University to implement the CARE model, which is based on evidence-based principles that are developmentally-focused, family-involved, relationship-based, competence-centered, trauma-informed, and ecologically-oriented.

CYDC is taking yet another evolutionary step using the Collaborative Change Approach to bridge all of the individual CYDC programs into an interdependent system of care, and implementing transition as a way of life from the time a child enters the CYDC system to discharge and beyond.

This internal synergy ensures that whether a child is interacting with staff from the clinical team, staff from their residential facility, staff from the Career Center, Aftercare staff, as well as community mentors, they are receiving consistent support through their transitional phases that builds their self-confidence, encourages them to support others, and empowers them to make smart personal decisions at work, at home and in social environments.

Read more about transition and social change.