Program Description

 

Through an extensive six week selection process, we seek out the Children that are most vulnerable to school failure, abuse, neglect, juvenile delinquency, gang and drug involvement, and teen pregnancy. Friends NY gender matches 8 Children with one carefully screened, highly qualified, paid professional mentor, called a Friend. Friends spend 2 to 3 hours with each Child at least twice a week, in and outside of the school setting.

Friends of the Children NY is unique because we:

  • Highly Qualified Full-Time Professionals - We employ carefully screened, full-time, paid professional mentors.
  • Individual Attention - Each Friend is matched with only with 8 Children.
  • Use of Best Practices - Our Friends are provided with continuous support and training.
  • Consistency - Our program maintains high retention rates among both staff and children.
  • Community Collaboration - We establish and maintain strong working relationships with families, schools and other community organizations. Currently we are in active collaboration with 22 other community organizations.
  • Rigorous Selection - We select those Children most at-risk through an intensive 6-week assessment process.
  • Start Early Enough To Make A Difference - We intervene early at ages 5-7.
  • Stay the Distance - We commit to a long-term, unconditional relationship through high school graduation with each child.
  • Concentrated, Individual Time - Our Friends spend 2 -3 hours, twice a week in a one-on-one nurturing, role modeling relationship with each Child.

Long-Term Outcomes

 

We have the following Long-Term Outcomes for each of our Children:

  • Graduate from high school with a plan for the future.
  • Engage in activities that result in a positive contribution to their community and avoid entanglement in the criminal justice system.
  • Make healthy choices in childhood and adolescence including delayed parenthood until an appropriate age.

Rave Reviews

 

Since we began in 2001 we have continually collected data, and evidence in school and at home indicates that participation in the Friends NY program is having a positive impact in the lives of our Children. Our second Third-party evaluation covering the first five years shows that Friends NY is:

"an invaluable presence in the lives of the children and families that they serve. Children report doing better in school since having a Friend, and teacher ratings of student progress, particularly in the area of attendance support this claim."

Teachers tell us student behavior also improved. As one teacher said:

"Children felt they didn´t want to disappoint their Friend so they behaved better. This change in behavior was not only visible in the students, but it also improved the overall environment of their classrooms."

Parents appreciate Friends´ impact, as exemplified by one parent telling our evaluator:

"For him to have a person who gives him the attention he´s looking for, it´s great. It´s like they have someone special just for them, and they get to share a lot with them. They become part of your family because they´re involved with a great deal of things with the Child."

 

What progress has been made?

Social and Emotional Development

  • As reported by their Friends, over the time of their participation in the program, Cohort One participants (those children involved since initiation of the program) improved their social skills, such as making friends easily and getting along well with other children.
  • Similarly, Friends reported that Cohort One participants increased their self-esteem and self-confidence, but for many of the Children maintaining a positive self-image remains an ongoing challenge.
  • Teachers indicate improvements for Cohort One in social contacts with peers, particularly in socializing and interacting with classmates and having lots of friends.
  • Our Children who have reached the 3rd grade requiring participation in standardized testing have out performed their same school peers the past five consecutive years.

Making Good Choices

  • Friends Assessments indicated that incidents of violent and/or illegal behavior have decreased among the Cohort One participants over time. Given that aggression and anger were two of the most prominent characteristics found among the children at the time of selection into the program, and given that many of the participants have family members with criminal involvement, the fact that these behaviors have decreased among Cohort One participants is striking.
  • Another area in which improvements over time for Cohort One children were found was authority acceptance in the classroom, particularly breaking things and property damage. All teachers that were interviewed also noted the positive difference that the program has on the participants' behavior in the classroom.

School Success

  • While teachers said that the majority of the Cohort One children were easily distracted in class, over time, their reports indicated that participants improved their ability to complete assignments and work well alone.
  • Ninety-eight percent (98%) of participants in Friends NY scored at Level 2 or above on the English Language Arts assessment in 2007/08. Overall this is slightly better than students at PS 241 (the original partner school from which children were selected into the program).
  • On the 2007/08 Mathematics assessment, Friends NY participants again scored slightly better than students at PS 241, and notably, 57% of Friends NY participants scored Level 3 or above.
  • Attendance is one important area in which Friends NY participants are doing exceedingly well. Friends NY participants had a mean attendance rate of 97.4% during the 2007/08 school year contrasted to an 89% for all NYC children.
  • In their most recent assessment, teachers rated the overall progress of all students in Cohort One between fair and excellent, with no students rated as poor or failing.

Download a PDF version of the complete Friends NY 2003 Evaluation.

Download a PDF version of the complete Friends NY 2006 Evaluation.