Executive Director and Foster Care Resident, Good Shepherd Services

Sister Paulette LoMonaco and Monica Thompson represent the best of the two ends of the social service spectrum: a dedicated executive director who is changing lives and a young woman who has shown what can happen when a teenager is given the support she needs to thrive.

In her 34 years at Good Shepherd, Sister Paulette has overseen its growth from a $3.5 million to a $27 million agency that operates 19 sites. As a young nun serving as house mother at a Good Shepherd residence for young women, she realized the women in her care needed more than a safe place to sleep so she created the first community-based residence program in the city with on-site therapeutic services. And she hasn't stopped since. As the organization's executive director for 23 years, her commitment to troubled young people has changed tens of thousands of young lives.

Monica, 18, a witness to her mother's descent into crack addiction, found the support she needed at St. Helena's, one of Good Shepherd's residences for foster care children. In the year and a half she's lived there, Monica has graduated from high school and entered college. A talented poet, Monica's words are now inspiring others.

Behind them both is Good Shepherd Services. Robin Hood funds three Good Shepherd programs: South Brooklyn Community Academy, an alternative high school for former drop-outs and students at risk for failure, which boasts a 90 percent graduation rate; residential programs for adolescents in foster care, ranked among the best in the city; and a new program for homeless young adults who have aged out of the foster care system and are unable to survive without help.