Chapter will connect youth facing the highest risks with a salaried, professional mentor for 12 ½ years
Friends of the Children, a national nonprofit that pairs children facing the highest risks with a salaried, professional mentor (a Friend) for 12 ½ years, announced that through a catalytic $500,000 investment from the Medina Foundation, they will launch a campaign to bring its courageous and unique model to the Tacoma area.
“Bringing a new chapter of Friends of the Children to Tacoma is a unique undertaking for the Medina Foundation Trustees,” says Gail Gant, Board of Trustees President of the Medina Foundation and longtime Tacoma resident. “We believe so strongly in the efficacy of this model that we want to make this happen. Providing children at a young age with a consistent, caring adult has shown to lift families out of poverty, not only in Seattle, but across the country. A Friends of the Children chapter is an ideal way to make a deep, long-term impact.”
The Medina Foundation is a family foundation with more than 70 years of grantmaking experience in the Pierce County community. They work to foster positive change in the Greater Puget Sound area. After funding the Seattle chapter over the past 12 years, the Trustees of the foundation saw the success of that chapter firsthand and saw a critical need to expand the Friends model to the Tacoma area.
Friends of the Children selects youth ages 4-6 years from high-poverty schools and the foster care system and pairs them with a Friend from kindergarten through graduation. Over the course of their 12 ½ years in the program, youth have a champion by their side to navigate tremendous transitions and develop core assets like hope and perseverance to overcome barriers. It’s hard to ignore the outcomes:
83% of program youth graduate from high school, although 60% had parents who did not graduate high school
93% avoid the juvenile justice system, although 50% had parents who were incarcerated
98% avoid early parenting, although 85% were born to a teen parent.
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Center, the number of children in Washington State who are living apart from their families has increased 11.9 percent in comparison to the number of children in out-of-home care in 2011. In Pierce County alone, on any given day, there are almost 1,500 children in foster care. Of the almost 29,000 youth enrolled in Tacoma Public Schools, almost 64 percent live in poverty and almost half are on free- or reduced-price lunch.
“The Medina Foundation has a long-standing track record of investing in organizations that approach tough problems with innovative ideas and solutions,” says Terri Sorensen, CEO of Friends of the Children. “We are so proud to partner with them to make the Friends of the Children –Tacoma chapter a reality.”
The Medina Foundation pledged to invest $500,000 of the $1.5 million needed to sustain a chapter. With the support of the foundation, the Friends of the Children – National team has a goal of raising an additional $1 million by September of 2019 from the Pierce County community.
“After opening six new chapters in the last year, we have learned a lot about the power of a local champion in the community and the critical need to ensure the opening of a site is driven by the needs of that community,” says Sorensen. “We look forward to listening and learning about the needs in Pierce County to determine how we can best support these children and guarantee the long-term success of a chapter.”
About Friends of the Children
Friends of the Children is a national nonprofit based in Portland, Ore. with the mission of breaking the cycle of generational poverty by giving the most vulnerable children the ability to create a new story. We select the most vulnerable children ages 4-6 from high-poverty schools and the foster care system and pair them with a salaried, professional mentor (a Friend) who stays with them from kindergarten through graduation – 12 ½ years, no matter what. Our Friends support and guide our children in becoming healthy and contributing members in their communities. Our successful model is now in 15 locations, including four sites in Oregon (Portland, Gresham, Klamath Falls and Central Oregon); Austin, Texas; Boston, Mass., Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago, I.L.; Harlem and the South Bronx, N.Y.; Los Angeles and San Francisco, Calif.; Seattle, Wash; Tampa Bay, Fla.; and Cornwall, U.K. Friends of the Children has been named the Most Admired Nonprofit in Oregon in 2015, 2016, and 2017 by the Portland Business Journal. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, or visit friendsofthechildren.org.
– Friends of the Children
