Friends of the Children – Los Angeles’ 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. Three years ago, Friends of the Children -- Los Angeles (Friends LA) launched as part of a national network of 22 Friends of the Children sites dedicated to impacting generational chang
e by empowering youth facing the greatest obstacles through relationships with professional mentors – 12+ years, no matter what. A Friend walks along side each child to develop socio-emotional skills, school success, coping strategies for stress and more, while also supporting caregivers in accessing housing, gainful employment, post-secondary education, and/or therapeutic resources. Our Friends are paid, professional mentors with training in trauma-informed care and are empathetic to the challenges our families face. Network-wide, we have a positive impact on the life-course trajectories of the children with whom we work:
· 83% of our youth earn a high school diploma or GED; while 60% have parents who did not.
· 93% avoid the juvenile justice system; though at least half have parents who have been incarcerated.
· 98% avoid early parenting; despite 85% having been born to a teen parent. Friends LA is leading our national network by providing support to parents, as well. Our two-generation (2Gen) framework supports both child and parent(s) to ensure whole family success. This means our caregivers have access to resources provided by Friends. Our work also entails creating a community amongst our families, ensuring that they also have peer-to-peer support to lean on.
