I realized my dreams because someone believed in me. They encouraged my unusual curiosity about how things worked. Consistently, I was supported. This small but regular investment in time helped make a difference in my life and the people around me.
It’s for precisely this reason that I’ve devoted my time outside the technology domain to an organization making a difference in children’s lives – Friends of the Children. By focusing on the most underserved children in our communities, Friends is able to break the chains of generational poverty…one child at a time.
Children born into poverty have much higher risks of substance abuse, teen parenting, incarceration, and many other sad calamities. By providing a dedicated, paid mentor from kindergarten through graduation, Friends of the Children is making huge impact on the most under-served. Yes, that’s 12.5 years of mentoring and assistance.
Through Friends of the Children, we have the hope of turning the dreams of a young child into the next engineer. The next inventor. The next dreamer.
Join me at Friends of the Children by investing in our youth. Every $1 will be matched by $3.70. THIS is the best holiday present we can give.
More about Friends of the Children:
Friends of the Children is a national nonprofit that is breaking the cycle of generational poverty by giving children facing the highest risks the ability to create a new story. We do this by providing the most vulnerable children with a long-term, salaried, professional mentor, who we call a “Friend,” from kindergarten through high school graduation, 12.5 years – no matter what.Our evidence-based model works:
- 83% of our youth graduate from high school
- 93% of our youth avoid the juvenile justice system
- 98% of our youth avoid early parenting
We aren’t just changing the stories of children facing the highest risks. We’re changing the collective stories of our community for the long run. Our work is focused on one child at a time, but it affects everyone.
Expansion
Our successful model is now in 15 locations, including four sites in Oregon (Portland, Gresham, Klamath Falls/Basin and Central Oregon); Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Harlem and the South Bronx, NY; Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; Tampa Bay, FL; and Cornwall, United Kingdom.
Economic impact
This model brings about life transformation and has a tremendous economic impact on our community. The Harvard Business School Association of Oregon return on investment study found that for every $1 invested in Friends of the Children, the community benefits more than $7 in saved social costs. Helping one child saves the community $900,000.
Foster care
As part of our expansion, we will begin working more closely with foster care systems around the country to advance our proven model as a foster care prevention innovation that has the potential to create lasting systems change.
