Staff: Sydney Congdon

Sydney is originally from Philadelphia but has lived in a variety of different cities across the country, recently landing in Salt Lake City, Utah. After earning her Master's Degree in Education from Teacher's College at Columbia University, she quickly realized that youth-serving nonprofits have the unique opportunity to support children's social-emotional development in ways the bureaucracy of public schools often cannot. She first fell in love with mentoring her first year out of college when she served as an AmeriCorps member with City Year Greater Philadelphia. After a brief stint as a classroom teacher, teaching 7th grade Humanities in New York City, she returned to her love of mentoring, first becoming a Program Director for a school-based mentoring program, and then continuing on to work with the Florida state affiliate of the National Mentoring Partnership at the United Way of Palm Beach County. Prior to joining Friends of the Children, Sydney was the Grants Manager for the large Denver-based non-profit, A Precious Child. Sydney is excited to merge her two professional passions, mentoring and writing, to improve outcomes for youth across the country. In her free time, Sydney enjoys snowboarding, hiking, camping and anything else that lets her enjoy the outdoors with her hound dog, Breck.