Friends of the Children - SW Washington

Our mission is to impact generational change by empowering youth facing the greatest obstacles through relationships with professional mentors 12+ years, no matter what. We identify youth who live with the intersecting pressures of poverty and complex trauma and pair them with trained, salaried professional mentors (called Friends) through high school graduation. Using an evidence-based, trauma-informed, 2Gen approach, Friends form meaningful relationships with youth and caregivers that foster lifelong resiliency and social-emotional learning to promote healthy development and increased school engagement. Our vision is for each youth to graduate high school with the skills needed to achieve self-sufficiency by age 25.