Friends of the Children expands services thanks to support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

SEATTLE — The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Pacific Northwest program has awarded a three-year, $300,000 grant to Friends of the Children, King County. The grant will provide catalytic funding as Friends of the Children, King County expands to serve incoming classes of children in the Seattle community. 

The Seattle program is entering its third year of operation, and is based on the proven and successful Friends of the Children model started in Portland more than 10 years ago. Friends of the Children is the only program in the nation that connects our society’s most vulnerable young children with paid, professional mentors for 12+ years. Research studies show that an early start and a long-term, one-on-one, committed relationship can make dramatic life changes for a vulnerable child.

“This grant is exemplary of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s commitment to our local community and an important endorsement of our unique approach to helping King County’s neediest children,” said Annette de Soto, executive director of Friends of the Children, King County.  “With this important funding, we can continue to change children’s lives for the better – one child at a time.”

Friends of the Children’s unique program relies on mentors (called Friends) that are full-time, paid professionals who have previous experience working with children. Each Friend works with no more than eight children, and spends a minimum of four hours of one-on-one time per week with each child. With the help of schools and other social service agencies, Friends of the Children identifies kindergarten children with the most risk factors affecting their immediate environment, and works with them until graduation from high school. Friends of the Children believes that society’s most vulnerable, high-risk children have the strength, motivation and ability to rise above adverse circumstances if given the opportunity to do so.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Pacific Northwest program funds nonprofits in Washington and Oregon dedicated to improving the lives of children and families in need.

“We believe that Friends of the Children is a unique pilot program serving King County’s most vulnerable children,” said Jaime Garcia, director of the Pacific Northwest program for the foundation. “Together with Friends, we can continue our work to create healthy communities in the Northwest.”

On the Internet:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, www.gatesfoundation.org
Friends of the Children, King County, www.friendskc.org