The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) announced that the Illinois Youth Center (IYC) Pere Marquette in Grafton was awarded the 2023 PbS Barbara Allen-Hagen (BAH) Award. The BAH award is a national award presented annually to one juvenile corrections facility and one juvenile detention facility. BAH recipients must show exceptional progress in their achievement of a self-identified area of growth. This year’s BAH Award for a corrections facility was presented to IYC Pere Marquette for their exemplary work in connecting families with their youth who are currently under the care of IDJJ. Officials from IDJJ accepted the award at the Performance based Standards (PbS) awards gala held in Philadelphia on August 11, 2023. PbS partners with juvenile justice facilities to integrate research into practices that “improve conditions and quality of life in our nation’s juvenile facilities.” PbS offers research-based standards and performance measures that focus on making facilities safe, making programs effective, and achieving positive outcomes. The BAH award was established in 2007 in honor of the retirement of Barbara Allen-Hagen, who worked for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and dedicated her career to improving the quality of life in facilities for youths. Staff at IYC Pere Marquette have expanded connections with families of youth under the care of IDJJ by increasing in-person and virtual visiting hours, involving families more intentionally with therapeutic and educational plans for youth, and hosting family day events for families to enjoy food and fun with their children.