Friends Announces New Open Competition to Grant $3 Million to Organizations Serving Youth Across the Nation

Friends of the Children is holding a new open competition to award $3 million to community-based organizations through the One Child at a Time Expansion Project.

Fueled by a $4 million grant from the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a federal program of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), and a $2 million match from Thrive Foundation for Youth, a division of King Philanthropies, the One Child at a Time Expansion Project will expand Friends of the Children’s evidence-based program to reach more youth in foster care and high-poverty, high-crime neighborhoods across the country. Specifically, over the next four years, the project will increase the number of children served by Friends of the Children by 50 percent nationally. Friends of the Children provides long-term professional one-on-one mentors to children who face multiple systemic obstacles from kindergarten through high school graduation – 12+ years, no matter what. The model, proven through rigorous evaluation, increases graduation rates and decreases teen parenting and juvenile justice involvement while focusing on the growth potential of each child.

As part of the One Child at a Time Expansion Project, Friends of the Children has recently announced two sub-awards totaling $2.4 million to launch a new chapter in San Francisco and double the youth served by Friends of the Children–Seattle.

Through this open competition, three to five additional organizations or individual champions will be selected and awarded to grow Friends of the Children’s impact by replicating the Friends of the Children Model and increasing the number of children who face multiple systemic obstacles that we served nationally by 50 percent.