SVPP Support for Friends of the Children

(from the April 2009 Newsletter)

In May 2008, SVPP invested in Friends of the Children to support their capacity building goal of increasing the number of youth served by the organization to 400 by 2011, and to support their operational excellence during this time of unprecedented growth.

More recently, in January 2009, Friends of the Children assumed ownership of three facilities that they had previously been leasing. SVPP is helping to develop a comprehensive facilities maintenance plan for the successful management of these assets over the long term, led by Partner Noel Johnson. SVPP is also assisting Friends of the Children to explore opportunities to expand services by establishing a facility in outer Southeast Portland that serves as a resources and activity center for program participants and staff. This will allow the organization to better serve youth currently enrolled in the program who have migrated out of North and Northeast Portland. Len Schulwitz, Bruce Murray and Boyce Smith have also been integral to this team.

SVPP is also working with Friends of the Children to aggregate years worth of program data in preparation for a conversion to a new database. Partner Adam Light and Kelly Jensen, a Point B consultant and colleague of Partner Steve Brook, have spearheaded this project that will help program and management staff efficiently monitor program services and track outcome data. In doing so, Friends will be able to dedicate more time to direct service to children. They will also be able to capture demographic and service data with the new database. This will allow for more thorough internal monitoring of the quality of mentoring service and enable more rapid responses to emerging needs and trends.