Local Tennessee Family and Nonprofit, Jonathan’s Path, Selected as One of Three National Champions at the Ad Council’s 2025 Public Service Award Dinner
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Franklin, TN — Jonathan’s Path, a Tennessee nonprofit dedicated to supporting teens in foster care and young adults aging out, has been selected as one of only three national Champions to be featured at the Ad Council’s prestigious Annual Public Service Award Dinner on December 4th in New York City. This years public service award receipt is Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner. The event—attended last year by more than 1,500 leaders across advertising, media, technology, philanthropy, and social impact—raised $9.1 million to support the Ad Council’s mission-driven campaigns.
The DuRard family—Carrie, Jase, and their son Taylor—will speak on stage at the event, sharing their powerful lived experience story and the work of Jonathan’s Path. Their journey was previously featured in the national AdoptUSKids + Ad Council Adoption from Foster Care campaign, one of the longest-running public service efforts in the country. The campaign has been changing lives for more than 20 years and has contributed to more than one million adoptions nationwide.
“We never imagined that welcoming Taylor into our home would ultimately lead us here,” said Carrie DuRard, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Jonathan’s Path. “But once we learned that in Tennessee, 80% of teens who age out of foster care at 18 without anchored support will experience homelessness, incarceration, trafficking, addiction, or death, we knew we had to do something.”
Jonathan’s Path was founded in honor of Taylor’s late brother, Jonathan, and is dedicated to ensuring that every teen has what they deserve: stability, belonging, and people who stay. The organization provides anchored support, housing assistance, transportation, emergency needs, mentorship, life skills, and transition-to-independence resources for teens in foster care and young adults who have aged out but still need support.
“We work every day to help as many young people as we can,” says Taylor, “Sharing my story through the Ad Council campaign—and now on this stage—matters because it helps show other youth that they’re not alone.”
The DuRards’ long-term vision extends even further. “We are just getting started,” said Jase DuRard, Co-Founder and Board Chair. “Jonathan’s Path is working to open homes to provide safe, stable housing options for teens. Our dream is to become a statewide and national model for how teens in custody—and those aging out—should be supported and valued, with dignity, consistency, and relationships that don’t disappear.”
Chosen as one of only three Champions at this year’s Dinner, Jonathan’s Path represents the power of small but committed organizations changing lives one young person at a time—one call, one hug, one meal.
About Jonathan’s Path
Jonathan’s Path is an active 501(c)(3) organization giving Middle Tennessee teens currently in or aging out of foster care a chance to dream, a path to walk down and a place to call home. Jonathan’s Path is dedicated to supporting teens in foster care and young adults transitioning to independent living. Through mentorship, education, housing assistance, and life skills training, we empower young people to build successful and independent futures.
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