Friends of the Children-Portland

In 1993, Friends of the Children opened its doors with three friends serving 24 children. Today, Friends of the Children–Portland has 50 Friends guiding, supporting and mentoring almost 500 children across the Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area. Our mission is to impact generational change by empowering youth who are facing the greatest obstacles through relationships with professional mentors—12+ years, no matter what.

We meet this goal by identifying the children in our community who face the toughest circumstances and providing them with professional mentoring for 12 ½ years, from kindergarten through high school. Our mentors (called Friends) spend 16 hours/month with each child providing academic support, teaching life skills, setting short-term goals, modeling healthy behavior, nurturing interests and talents, and exposing them to new places and experiences. Our strategic objectives include clearly defined goals that correlate directly to our vision:

GOAL 1: Ensure Nurturing Sustained Relationships and Quality Programming
• Maintain Friends as a high quality program with validated outcomes measured over time--85% will graduate from high school or attain GED, 95% will avoid involvement in Juvenile Justice System, and 99% will avoid early parenting.
• Improve literacy for children as measured over time--show an increasing trend so that greater than 70% of our 3rd graders meet reading benchmarks.
• Improve post-secondary enrollment and completion over time--show an increasing trend so that greater than 50% enroll in a post-secondary program.

GOAL 2: Build Capacity and Capability
• Establish a visible presence in SE Portland by securing a facility that enhances service to youth and our program vision.
• Increase sustainable revenue streams (expected for three years or more) to support and grow the program.
• Hire and retain outstanding employees by developing a culture of leadership and by making FOTC the preferred place to work.

GOAL 3: Broaden Community Impact
• Scale the program--Increase the number of youth served to 475 by 2016.
• Increase FOTC brand recognition as one of the most innovative, effective, and respected mentoring organizations serving the most vulnerable children in Oregon and SW Washington.
• Increase impact through leveraging community partnerships that complement our core mission.

Our most recent community needs assessment found that over 27,000 Portland metro-area children live with multiple risk factors that qualify them for enrollment in the Friends program. In an effort to meet this tremendous need, a core goal of our current Strategic Plan is to expand our impact to serve 475 children by 2016 (currently over 400). In keeping with our mission to reach the most vulnerable youth, this expansion must focus primarily on the growing high-needs areas in East County.

Children who are served by Friends of the Children are enrolled each year during our selection process in May and June. The selection process is intensive and occurs over the course of six weeks within each of our partner schools-- Lincoln Park elementary schools in the David Douglas School District, Alder Elementary School in the Reynolds School District, Rigler School in the Portland Public School District, and King Elementary School in the Vancouver School District. Children are then are matched with their Friends over the summer.

Once a child has been selected, Friends of the Children makes a 12 ½-year commitment to provide intensive mentoring and support to that child. Our mentors spend about half of their dedicated time with their mentees in the classroom, assisting with school work and behavioral issues, as well as providing stability and general support for children.

One of our key strategies is our focus on education, which is the best way for low-income children to break generational cycles of poverty and make a better life for themselves. Yet low-income and minority children often face many systemic barriers to education such as poor performing neighborhood schools, parents with low educational attainment, substance abuse and/or violence in their homes and neighborhood, and disrupted schooling due to housing and family instability. They often face these challenges without the support of consistent adult role models in their lives. Friends of the Children exists to fill that void.

Our model brings together a unique blend of research and practical experience gained from our nearly two decades of work focusing on all areas of child and youth development. Friends' interactions with children are flexible and informal, but never random. Every school meeting, tutoring session, museum visit, and “hang out" session is informed by a set of evidence-based developmental milestones that guide our Friends in setting goals for each child they work with. Milestones include social and emotional development, decision-making skills, success in school, improved health and access to health care, and positive plan and skills for the future. Mentors engage children in decision-making activities, goal-setting, and rewards to help children work towards these milestones, while measuring their progress through our database management program.

While other organizations in the community provide youth mentoring services, no other organization makes a commitment to exclusively serve the most vulnerable children with the same intensity and duration. We are active in the Oregon Mentors network and seek opportunities to work with other organizations who share our goals, but several important elements distinguish our model: we employ full-time, professional mentors who spend a great deal of time with children every week; we intervene early; and we commit for the long-term. Our program works because of several key elements that distinguish us from other mentoring organizations:

- Professional Mentors: Our Friends are highly trained and experienced in handling situations that many volunteer mentors would not be equipped to resolve. For the children we serve—who are some of the most vulnerable in the community—it is essential to have a mentor who is adept at handling emotional crises and navigating challenging situations that arise within children's families, their schools, and the social services system.
- Long-term Commitment: We make a 12 ½-year commitment to each of our children. We promise to show up for them, week after week, year after year, from kindergarten through high school. Friends often provide the only stable relationship in our children's lives, which are marked by changes in caregivers and frequent moves.
- Intensive Mentoring: Children spend 16 hours per month with their Friends, an average of four hours every week. This allows Friends to be integrated into all aspects of children's lives by spending time with them at home, in the classroom, and in the community.

Our innovative program model is based on extensive research into best practices for serving children most at risk for serious negative outcomes. This formative process determined that highly vulnerable children: 1) can be identified early based on research-proven risk factors; 2) must be supported by a caring, supportive adult relationship; and that 3) prevention must begin early, be sustained, and be holistic. Due to the long-term, intensive nature of our program, Friends are able to respond to each child on a highly individualized level, standing by them as they work to overcome challenges and achieve their goals.

Friends of the Children revenue is derived primarily from private contributions from our community. Approximately 43% of our revenue comes from special events. Roughly 28% of our funding comes from foundation and corporate grants; 15% from individual contributions; and 7% of our support comes from our endowment, which supports FOTC activities. Lastly, 7% of our revenue is from the Portland Children's Levy, our only source of public funding.

Our innovative program model has a twenty year track record of successful outcomes. 83% of Friends of the Children graduates have earned a high school diploma or GED, though more than 60% have parents who did not graduate; 93% of our youth avoid the juvenile justice system, though 50% have at least one parent who has been incarcerated; 98% avoid early parenting, while 85% were born to a teen parent.

Based on our youth's achievements, analysts from the Harvard Business School Association of Oregon have calculated more than $7 in social return for every $1 invested in our program. Their analysis shows that children who qualify for Friends of the Children, but don't have access to a Friend, are 3 times more likely to drop out of high school or not obtain a GED, 5 times more likely to be incarcerated in the juvenile justice system, and 13 times more likely to become a teen parent.

Friends of the Children was recently named the number one Most Admired nonprofit in Oregon by the Portland Business Journal. The effectiveness of our model has also attracted national attention from groups seeking meaningful and sustainable solutions to pressing social problems. The Social Impact Exchange lists Friends of the Children on its S&I 100, a list of the top 100 high-impact nonprofits in America, chosen for their effective interventions and validated, evidence-based outcomes. We are also proud to have received a four star rating from Charity Navigator, reflecting our firm commitment to sustainability, accountability and transparency.

The need for intensive support of vulnerable children in our community continues to grow. A 2012 community needs assessment found that more than 27,000 metro area children (K-12) live with a level of risk similar to those enrolled in our program. Between 2001 and 2011 student enrollment increased 6% while the number of students in poverty rose 62%. Due to the drastic rise in the cost of living in north and northeast Portland, families who struggle financially are relocating to outer southeast Portland, where housing is more affordable.

FOTC is compelled to serve more highly vulnerable children. Our 5-year strategic plan outlines goals to serve 475 children by 2016 with a focus on geographic areas of greatest need. We have expanded child selection to David Douglas and Reynolds school districts in response to the concentration of poverty, diversity, and crime in outer SE Portland. We have already grown to serve over 400 youth currently. We aim to achieve growth while maintaining a high quality, effective and efficient program with validated outcomes. Ultimately, we seek to establish our program model as a best practice for working with children exposed to multiple risk factors. A rigorous evidence base, an important criterion for receipt of funding at state and federal levels, is needed to accomplish the vision of bringing our model to greater scale.