2009 Casey Medal Winner/2009 America's Promise Journalism Award Winner, Radio: "Growing Up in the System" (video)

"Growing Up in the System," by WNYC's Radio Rookies, offers first person stories that personalize the foster care system and the challenges facing the children within. Each reporter is a teen who has been, as they say, ‘in the system.’

The project won a 2009 Casey Medal in the radio category. It also won the first-ever America's Promise Journalism Award for Awareness, which is presented to one outstanding Casey Medal winner. Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO of the America's Promise Alliance, said the awareness the project raised "will undoubtedly lead to better outcomes for young people throughout the country."

"Their stories are never covered in the mainstream media. And if they are, it's not from their perspective. ...This is them telling you how it really is."

-- Courtney Stein, assistant producter, WNYC's Radio Rookies

Assistant producer Courtney Stein talks about the Radio Rookies program and how each youth reporter covered his or her personal experience with foster care -- from entering the system, to living in a group home, to aging out.

The Radio Rookies program "showed me it's OK to open up."

-- Shirley "Star" Diaz, youth reporter, WNYC's Radio Rookies

Shirley "Star" Diaz, one of three youth reporters for the program, talks about how the project gave her the voice to share her own story about aging out of the system.

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"My story was, 'Who should I believe?'....Who is my real parent and who should I actually stay with?"

                     -- Raymond Henderson, youth reporter, WNYC's Radio Rookies

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Raymond Henderson, another youth reporter for the project, talks about how his participation helped him grow up. For the radio project, Henderson shared his experience as he was just entering foster care.

JCCF videos by Jon Sham.