On September 30th, Friends of the Children celebrated a milestone more than 30 years in the making: the grand opening of the Duncan and Cindy Campbell National Center of Excellence for Professional Youth Mentoring in Portland, Oregon.

Located in Portland's historic Albina neighborhood, not far from where our founder Duncan Campbell grew up, the state-of-the-art facility serves as our National headquarters and the Albina campus for our founding Portland chapter. The new Center acts as a global hub dedicated to advancing the field of professional youth mentoring. It brings training and development, innovation, research and evaluation, and thought leadership together under one roof.

“The Center is a hub where research meets practice,” shared Friends of the Children CEO Terri Sorensen. “It’s a home where we will deepen and broaden our impact for youth and families, allowing us to innovate, research, convene, and collaborate on cutting-edge practices”.

Members of the Campbell family joined staff, supporters, and special guests, including former U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer, Olympic champion Ashton Eaton, and former pro athletes Nat Borchers and Joey Harrington, for a ribbon cutting and guided tours. Friends of the Children Ambassador Simone Biles also shared a video message.

"Opening this National Center of Excellence represents the realization of a lifelong dream started by my husband Duncan more than 30 years ago," said Cindy Campbell.

The work is already underway. A major cornerstone of this innovation is the launch of a new Professional Youth Mentoring Certificate, created in partnership with the University of South Carolina’s Youth Empowerment in Schools and Systems Lab. This summer, our inaugural cohort of 25 professional mentors from 17 network chapters became the first to proudly earn their certificates, helping to standardize best practices and elevate the mentoring profession.

The National Center of Excellence was made possible by more than two dozen foundations and private donors, including founding funders Gary and Christine Rood. Thank you to everyone who helped us build a new home for professional youth mentoring.