.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Children & Families of Iowa will use a portion of a $748,000 grant made by the New York Life Foundation to the Child Welfare League of America to expand its foster-youth mentoring program in Iowa.

The Child Welfare League will use the three-year foundation grant to expand its Fostering Healthy Connections program to eight CWLA member agencies across the country, including Children & Families of Iowa. The program involves former foster youths as mentors for children who are currently in the foster-care system.

“With this significant, ongoing support from the New York Life Foundation, CWLA can expand this important program,” Christine James-Brown, the group’s president and chief executive officer, said in a release. Based in Washington, D.C., CWLA is the nation’s oldest and largest membership-based child welfare organization

Founded in 1888 to find safe homes for orphans, Children & Families of Iowa last year reached more than 17,000 people in 96 of Iowa’s 99 counties through a broad range of programs and services.

The Fostering Healthy Connections curriculum was created in collaboration with FosterClub, a nonprofit organization with expertise in working with foster-care youths through a 2005 grant of $199,200 by the New York Life Foundation to CWLA. The program was piloted at Boys’ Haven, a CWLA member agency in Louisville, Ky.

In addition to Des Moines, the program will expand to CWLA agencies in Schenectady and Stony Brook, N.Y.; Peoria, Ill.; Melbourne, Fla.; Holmes, Pa.; Columbus, Ohio; and East Providence, R.I. FosterClub will collaborate with CWLA and use the curriculum to develop trainers for the additional agencies.

The New York Life Foundation, the major vehicle through which New York Life channels contributions to national and local nonprofit agencies, has donated more than $100 million to nonprofits since 1979.