Friends of the Children - Boston

Website: www.friendsofthechildrenboston.org

The GreenLight Fund selected Friends of the Children after a rigorous due diligence process that considered the strength, innovation and results of the Friends’ program and found an extraordinary, replicable model that is fundamentally changing the lives of children from high-risk communities.

The original Friends of the Children chapter was founded in Portland, Oregon in 1993, and in 2004 the GreenLight Fund brought this innovative model to Boston. Friends of the Children-Boston (Friends-Boston) creates generational change by engaging children from high-risk communities in 12 years of transformative mentoring relationships. Friends-Boston calls the children they serve Achievers to demonstrate belief in their future success. Every Achiever receives 6-8 hours of intensive mentoring a week during the school year. Our ultimate goal is to provide Achievers with the skills and resources they need to graduate from high school and succeed in college.

Friends-Boston has already made tremendous strides towards the fulfillment of their mission since we brought them to Boston in 2004. Statistics from the 2010-2011 school year clearly illustrate the success of their Achievers:

• 99% of Achievers were promoted on time to the next grade
• 85% of Achievers attended school regularly
• 92% of Achievers were at or above grade level in English/Language Arts
• 86% of Achievers were at or above grade level in Math
• 87% of Achievers made progress towards their social and emotional skill goals