2010 Annual Report - Friends of the Children

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A Letter to our Friends: Every spring Friends of the Children welcomes a new class of kindergarteners into our family with a profound sense of optimism. We know the next 12 ½ years will be hard for these children. Caregivers will enter and exit their lives. Their families will be impacted by drugs, violence, hunger and homelessness. At times, they will not dare to hope that tomorrow will be any better than today. But we know there is hope, because our children will not be alone. From this point forward they will have a Friend to guide them and believe in them no matter what life may bring. Every spring we also experience the heartbreak of being unable to enroll so many of the children who desperately need a Friend of their own. In fact, a community assessment conducted in 2010 identified more than 19,000 children in the Portland metro area who live with multiple risk factors that would qualify them for the Friends program. We welcomed our first class of just 24 children in 1993. I am proud to report that, with tremendous support from our community, we now serve 350 children and plan to serve 475 by 2015. At every stage of growth our highest priority has been to protect the promise we make to our children - to be there for them 4 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, for 12 ½ years, no matter what. I am pleased to report that external evaluation continues to validate the effectiveness of the Friend’s model: • In 2010, the Harvard Business School Association of Oregon completed a rigorous return on investment analysis, which revealed that every $1.00 invested in our program yields nearly $7.00 in benefits to our youth and to society. In 2011, the same volunteers updated their data, and found that the ROI increased to $7.20 per dollar invested. • Preliminary results from the National Institutes of Health longitudinal study of Friends of the Children’s model are very positive, indicating that children enrolled in our program are significantly less anxious and depressed than at-risk children in a non-mentored control group. We take pride in our history of steady and thoughtful growth, and we are grateful to you, our dedicated community of supporters, for growing with us as we continue in our quest to provide a Friend to all vulnerable children who need one. Warmest Regards, Terri Sorensen, Executive Director Friends of the Children Portland PAGE 2 | FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN PORTLAND | 2010 ANNUAL REPORT
OUR MISSION Friends of the Children provides our most vulnerable children with paid, professionally-trained mentors (Friends) for 12 ½ years. Beginning in kindergarten, Friends stand by their youth as a source of consistent support and guidance to break the cycle of poverty, school failure, incarceration and early parenting in our community. FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN PORTLAND | 2010 ANNUAL REPORT | PAGE 3
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2010 Annual Report - Friends of the Children

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