Faithful Friends

Description

Faithful Friends is a faith-based model of Friends of the Children, which began in 2006. Its only chapter is located in St. Louis, Missouri.

There are three key elements that make Faithful Friends so unique:

-We mentor the children in our community who need us the most.
-Our mentors (called Friends) are full-time, paid and professionally trained.
-We make a twelve and a half year commitment to each child, selecting them in kindergarten and guiding them through high school graduation.

We desire each of our children to have a bright future, and we believe they can. Our work is guided by three long-term goals that we set for each child in our program:

Goal 1 -Success in school with a minimum of H.S. diploma(preferred) or GED
Friends Success Rate: 92% attend school regularly;
82% of our program graduates have earned a H.S. diploma or GED and more than 40% of our youth have a parent that did not complete high school

Goal 2- Avoid involvement in the juvenile justice system Friends Success Rate: 92% have avoided the juvenile justice system despite at least 60% having one or more parents who have been incarcerated

Goal 3 - Avoid early parenting
Friends Success Rate: 98% of adolescents avoid early parenting despite at least 60% having been born to a teen parent