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Frequently Asked Questions

• What are roadmap goals?

  Roadmaps goals are goals mentors develop alongside their youth every fall. These goals are created to support and empower youth to meet our five intermediate outcome goals: School Success, Social-Emotional Development, Improved Health, Making Good Choices and Plans and Skills for the future. These goals are meant to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-sensitive that are empowering and encouraging success rather than discouragement. Every outing with a Friend and youth is meant to be intentional, and the roadmap goals allow mentors to schedule outings with purpose.

• How do you select the youth in your program?

  All eligible youth must be in kindergarten and live in King County. We currently have a partnership with three elementary schools in Seattle (Concord, MLK, Dunlap) as well as the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) and Childhaven. We also accept referrals outside of our three partner schools for open spots that become available. Youth who are a dependent of the state must be in kindergarten or first grade, able to safely participate in outings in the community and likely to stay in King County to benefit from the long-term program.

• When is your annual youth enrollment period?

  Our annual enrollment typically starts in mid-January and runs through the end of Spring. However, we are always accepting referrals. We encourage you to send in your referrals regardless of the time of year as we have spots open up periodically throughout the year.

• How did enrollment change during the pandemic?

  The safety and wellbeing of our staff and youth/families is our number one priority. Right now, we are waiting to see how the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order phases will play out with social gatherings, face to face services and school openings. We are still accepting referrals and will keep them for as long as the youth meet eligibility.

• Do you have any volunteering opportunities?

  Yes. We have a few main avenues for volunteers. Yearlong tutoring for youth of all ages is always needed. For high school students, we need more specialized SAT/ACT prep tutoring. For elementary students, we look for tutors who can support reading and reading comprehension. We always need help with our four annual Family Engagement events. Volunteer opportunities for these events include putting giveaways and raffle items together (purchasing and packaging), volunteering with different craft tables, passing out food or transporting supplies from our local office in Rainier Avenue to the event venue. We also need volunteers willing and have capacity to host different drives such as food, warm clothes, back to school supplies, prizes and giveaways for family engagement events. Our teen program has a Job Shadow volunteer opportunity where local professionals can share their career path with youth planning for their future. Finally, we are looking for companies or individuals looking to host or sponsor group activities, and events youth and mentors can participate in and enjoy.

• How are you serving youth during COVID-19?

  During the pandemic, we have shifted out work from physical one-on-one outings and interactions between youth and Friends to remote interactions. This means the professional mentors are contacting their youth and families by phone, emails, zoom calls and snail-mail. Friends have dropped off school support packs for youth with work for them to complete. Mentors have also dropped off care packages with their youth’s favorite snacks and activities. They have also encouraged positive relationship building by teaming up and bring a group of youth together for collective Zoom meetings. We have reached out to partner organizations like the Rainier Food Bank, Franz bread and Green Plate Special to support weekly food bag drop-offs to families.