Friends for Youth

Friends for Youth provides one-to-one mentoring and enrichment opportunities for at-risk youth, as well as technical support and products for new and emerging mentoring programs.

How do you help people in my community?

Since 1979, Friends for Youth has been provided one-to-one mentoring services to at-risk youth (ages 8 to 17) throughout San Mateo and northern Santa Clara Counties. Our youth participants are referred by teachers, counselors, probation officers, and other youth professionals as being “at-risk” of not reaching their full potential due to challenges at home, at school, or in their neighborhood. Such challenges put them at-risk of dropping out of school, committing or becoming victims of violence, using drugs or alcohol, becoming teen parents, or simply not living up to their full potential.  Typically from economically disadvantaged households, these children have an additional special need: many have never walked on the nearby beach, visited a college campus, been to a ball game, or had experiences generally associated with youth. Independent clinical research has shown that Friends for Youth’s Mentoring Services program has a significant positive impact on the well-being and behavior of the children we serve. Through their relationships with mentors, youth build positive values and self-esteem, increase their motivation to succeed personally and academically, and become responsible, productive members of the community. These youth, in turn, serve as positive role models to their own friends and family members. The entire community benefits from helping at-risk youth develop into responsible, contributing citizens and avoiding the expense of remediation programs for criminal offenders. With over a quarter century of direct service successes, we also work to share this knowledge and experience:  since 1998, Friends for Youth’s Mentoring Institute provided training, support, and products to ensure that new and emerging programs offer safe, quality services to their own youth participants.

Why do you need my support?

Friends for Youth’s services are only possible with community contributions and the dedication of our volunteers. Your support will help us match children with caring mentors, provide doors of opportunity through group activities and workshops, and provide the support services that these young people need to thrive. Our goal is prevention as helping at-risk youth today has been proven to prevent large remediation costs later. Our success rate ensures that your donation not only makes a difference in the life of a child but in the strengthen of our community.

How can I be sure that you will use my money wisely and won't waste it?

Led by our Board of Directors comprised of concerned community members, Friends for Youth’s long-range strategic planning process helps to ensure consistent, quality services. Through our ongoing outcome evaluation, staff are able to track and document the progress that mentees make during their time in the program. The resulting data assists staff in continually refining and adjusting our group activities, workshops, and resources to fit the changing needs and interests of participants. Please visit our Web site (www.friendsforyouth.org) to learn more about our most recent successes. You may also view our financial history on GuideStar.org, illustrating that the contributions of our community are being used wisely. Our heavy reliance on volunteers enables us to allocate funds where they are needed most: directly into programs that improve the lives of children.

Can I Volunteer? How?

At any given time, Friends for Youth has over 50 young people waiting for a mentor. If you can spare just three hours a week, you can change the life of a child in our community … and change your own in the process. We are also always in need of volunteers to provide work tours for mentees and their mentors or to assist with special events and one-day activities. Please call us at 650-482-2867.