Mission
We leverage the power of mentoring relationships in East Multnomah County to support positive self-identity and youth leadership, so young people have a platform to build the futures they want for themselves and their communities.
Vision
A world where all youth have the power and multi-generational support to realize their potential, discover their passions, and create pathways for a meaningful life, as they define it.
Core Values:
Relationships: We believe in the power of relationships to change lives and systems. We stand in our long-time commitment of putting people first, both through built-in flexible programming to fit the individual needs of our participants, but also in how we allocate resources, so that staff have time to build authentic relationships with mentors and youth.
Youth-Voice: We are deepening our commitment to ensure that our kids have consistent, age-appropriate and evolving opportunities to decide what’s important to them, and to contribute to the design of programs that serve them. When working with young children, desires and leadership from their parents and guardians is crucial to building strong relationships with youth.
Racial Equity: We believe that cultivating strong racial and cultural identity is particularly important for building a more just and equal world with our youth, 70% of whom identify as multi-racial and/or kids of color. This can show up in many ways in our program, from having strong racial diversity represented at all levels of leadership and staff, to highlighting the contributions and leadership in our communities of color for our kids, to training our mentors on how to cultivate positive racial/cultural identity with their youth.
Our Commitment to Anti-racism:
At Family of Friends we believe that our kids deserve the best of us as adults. They deserve a community that values all parts of their identity, that works to change discriminatory systems, and that invites them to contribute to those changes. Systemic racism is real, its effects are pervasive and complex, and the time to eliminate it is long overdue. We have not done enough to prioritize this value in our organization, and we are changing that now.
Our board and staff unanimously commit to becoming an antiracist organization, to examine our internal systems through a racial and cultural lens, and to change our systems to ensure that the lived experience and contributions of our kids of color are prioritized and valued as equally as white dominant experiences and contributions. We will hold ourselves accountable to families, youth and leaders who are black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), as we work to dismantle these systems within our organization. We acknowledge that authentic antiracist work takes time, relationship-building, money and a willingness to be uncomfortable.
We have taken some steps: This past year we changed hiring and recruitment practices, to increase representation in our staff, board and volunteers. We have intentionally sought minority-owned vendors, and we’ve built stronger relationships with partners who value racial justice and are BIPOC led.
Our next steps: Our board and staff commit to educating ourselves more deeply on the intersection of race and youth-development, and to make an action plan this year to change policies and practices at Family of Friends, so that we 1) Affirm our participants’ racial/cultural identities in all their complexity, and 2) Provide responsive, informed opportunities for our kids to grow and lead within this context.
We’re at the beginning of this journey, with a sincere desire to be part of the solution. We’re excited for these changes and what they mean for our kids. We encourage all of you to engage with us and continue to hold us accountable to create a more equitable world for our youth. Thank you!
How does Family of Friends work?
Family of Friends focuses on creating a community of adult support around kids to help them thrive. Through individual and family-style mentoring, volunteers spend time once a week with a young person, doing fun activities of their choice, and building the foundations for leadership. Through weekly and monthly activities, mentors help open up pathways for kids to see themselves as powerful, and practice making healthy choices. Even more, kids build a trusted relationship with another adult outside of school and home.
But kids aren’t the only ones who benefit. Parents get an advocate for their child in the community, and volunteers get to share their time and experience and help a young person grow, creating a ripple of change in our community.
After a minimum of one year, matches may continue with the same child or mentor, or be re-matched with someone new. Children may continue with their mentors until they graduate from high school. Most matches stay formally involved in the program for an average of 2-3 years and have the option of staying engaged as an alumni match.
Professional staff provide high-quality training, screening and coaching every step of the way, so that each match is as successful as possible.
Serving youth in East Multnomah county, Family of Friends is funded primarily through private and public foundation grants and individual donations.
Who are our kids?
We believe that every child, no matter their background, can benefit from additional adult support. However, we prioritize children that are disproportionately faced with societally challenges, that could subsequently benefit from additional attention and support.
Children are typically referred through our local schools and county partnerships. We currently enroll elementary school children (grades k-5, ages 6-12) living in East Multnomah County, and may stay in our program through high-school.
Who are our mentors?
Mentors are stable, caring adult individuals, couples and families, age 21+ who have time and experience to share. Our mentors come from many racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. They all have a heart for kids and for making our community stronger through relationship building. Mentors don’t have to do or be anything “special”. They simply show up consistently and be themselves for a kid. Through active listening, encouragement and fun, mentors build trust and provide another, safe, caring adult that a child can rely on. Just by being a friend, mentors model healthy social-emotional skills for kids, which in turn, aides in positive youth development and a love of learning.
What makes us different?
We’re family-oriented. We believe in the power of family. That’s why our mentoring relationships are often more than just one-on-one. In our model, entire families as well as couples and individuals are invited to participate in mentoring the child. We encourage families of all types and sizes to join our program and give a child more opportunities to thrive.
We’re trauma informed. We provide intensive training and support that appropriately responds to the challenges faced by our community. Our model is based on best practices in the field of mentoring, and continually examines practices to keep the program relevant to the changing needs of our participants.
We’re holistic in our approach. We play an integral role within community, partnering with other organizations to provide wrap-around youth services. Children enter our program in Elementary school and may stay with us through high school, supporting youth with relationship building and positive self-identify early on.
Our History
The Family of Friends mentoring program was founded in 2003 by Kris and Mike Forzley, as part of Trillium Family Services. In October 2016, FOF became its own independent nonprofit and partnered with the City of Gresham to provide mentor-based programming to families in east Multnomah County. We’ve close to 400 mentor matches to date.
Through an innovative partnership with the City of Gresham, we leveraged the strengths of both organizations to prioritize mentoring youth in east Multnomah County. Family of friends continues to partner with other organizations across the Portland’s Metro area.
Family of Friends Mentoring Program 