MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Friends of the Children offers mentor program for foster kids

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Friends of the Children offers mentor program for foster kids

Childhood and adolescence were anything but easy for Duncan Campbell.

He was neglected by his alcoholic parents from a young age, and his father spent years in and out of jail.

Knowing he couldn’t rely on them, Campbell worked several jobs to get through school. In his 20s, he worked in a juvenile court in Oregon as a child care worker, where he built strong bonds with the children in his unit.

After a stint as a successful businessman, Campbell sold his timber firm to focus on helping at-risk children break out of generational poverty. That’s when he started Friends of the Children, a nonprofit that soon grew nationally.

But the nonprofit’s recent presence in Los Angeles is particularly apt, said Thomas G. Lee, executive director of the organization’s local branch. And that’s because Los Angeles has the largest child welfare system in the country.

“[Friends of the Children L.A.] is about building strong networks with children,” Lee said. “Networks matter. As children form networks with families, it’s important if we’re going to break cycles of poverty and get them out of the welfare system. We have to connect children with families and individuals in a meaningful way and with depth.”

And that’s what the organization does: connect at-risk children with caring adult mentors.

The nonprofit identifies kindergarten children living in poverty and matches them with an adult mentor –– or friend –– until the child graduates from high school.

Mentors spend two hours a week in the children’s classroom and two hours one-on-one, totaling 16 hours a month together.

“Our focus is making sure the child is meeting educational outcomes, social and emotional outcomes, and to expose and get them connected to the array of sources [available to them] in L.A. County,” Lee said.

Thomas Lee

Although L.A. has countless resources for foster children, they are often underused because individuals don’t know about them, Lee said.

“Our mentors become a bridge to those resources,” getting families and children connected to a larger network of support.

But it’s not just foster youth that Friends L.A. advocates for. It’s also youth exiting the foster care system that are parenting.

Lee said the local organization wants to focus on enrolling the 128 children of foster youth into their program. By doing so, it hopes to serve “that population in a real and intentionally meaningful way.”

And their program seems to be working. The organization’s website reports that 83 percent of its children graduate from high school; 93 percent stay out of the the juvenile justice system; and 98 percent avoid parenting, even though 85 percent were born to a teenage parent.

While Friends L.A. is just planting its feet in the county –– particularly in East and South L.A. –– communities and organizations have warmly received it, Lee said, and already it is looking to extend a broader hand to more children in need.

“Foster youth have much skepticism about adults in their life, and for good reason,” Lee said. “But developing a deep level of trust between us and them was really important. … It requires a level of humility, thoughtfulness and care, especially for kids who have been failed by a lot of people.”

But Friends of the Children L.A. is changing that, one friend and one child at a time.

INFORMATION BOX

L.A. Executive Director: Thomas G. Lee

Years in operation: national: 25; L.A.: 7 months

Annual budget: $3 million

Number of employees: 7

Location: 672 S. Lafayette Park Place, Suite 33, L.A. 90057

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MAKING A DIFFERENCE: 826LA helps local student writers become published

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: 826LA helps local student writers become published

LOS ANGELES — Not many 6 to 18 year olds can can say they’ve been published.

But there are more than 300 in Los Angeles that can can claim the title of published writer thanks to 826LA.

Since 2005, the nonprofit has supported students throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District and around the country, helping them build confidence as creative and expository writers.

“At the heart of what we do is bring volunteers to work with students one-on-one,” said Marisa Urrutia Gedney, director of in-schools programs and college access. In many under-resourced and overpopulated classrooms, she said, it’s difficult for teachers to give their students personal attention, especially when it comes to their writing.

“Writing is difficult for anyone of any age, and we tell the students that. It takes a certain level of confidence to take what’s in your heart and in your head and write it down,” she said.

Executive Director
Joel Arquillos

The intimate support “really helps students share their ideas so they have more confidence after they finish a writing assignment.”

Through its numerous free programs, more than 9,000 economically disadvantaged students in L.A. are taught how to write everything from poems, chapbooks and short films to stories, magazines and comic books during its weekend workshops.

During the week, students can take advantage of after-school and evening tutoring at two of 826LA’s writing locations in Echo Park and Mar Vista. There, volunteers help students with writing, reading and homework in all subjects.

“Our volunteers also go to schools where they work with teachers directly in the classrooms,” Gedney said. Because it’s not always possible for students to take a field trip to one of 826LA’s sites, volunteers drop into classrooms to support teachers with projects and provide students more one-on-one attention for writing assignments.

As for the many high school students working on their college applications, volunteers offer them help with their personal statements. This college-readiness work, Gedney said, is critical to what the nonprofit does.

“Personal statements help students write about their triumphs and trials,” she said. While students’ college applications show their academic successes, they don’t offer a glimpse into the realities of their lives.

By guiding them through their essays, they’re making “college writing more equitable.”

In 2013, the organization decided to extend this idea of equitability to South L.A., where they opened the Writers Room at Manual Arts High School.

There, students have a creative space where they can explore their writing voices and get college access support. It now serves more than 700 students every year and, as a result of this added support, more seniors are getting accepted into four-year schools.

As the nonprofit steadily grows, so has students’ enthusiasm for writing.

“So many times, once we publish a book of student writing, kids often say they want to be a writer. They say they want to be keep writing and get published,” Gedney said.

Kids frequently carry their published writing in their backpacks all year and show their teachers and classmates the work they’re so proud of, she added.

And this zest for writing that 826LA sees in its students is an energy it hopes to expand to more kids.

“Our hope is to increase capacity and bring in more volunteers into all our programs and centers to support more than 9,000 students a year,” Gedney said.

“We are always excited when people take interest in the work we do because it’s rewarding, exciting and fun.”

INFORMATION BOX

Executive Director: Joel Arquillos

Years in operation: 13

Number of employees: about 24

Annual budget: $1,744,809

Location: 1714 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90026