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Friends of Youth 

Description

Founded in 1951 to serve at-risk or “pre-delinquent” youth with foster care, Friends of Youth has evolved to meet the needs of youth and young adults in 3 core service areas: 

  • Homeless Youth Services, including street outreach, shelter, transitional and permanent supported housing for youth, young adults and young families.
  • Residential Services, including therapeutic foster care, residential treatment, and emergency shelter for youth under age 18.
  • Youth and Family Services, providing mental health and chemical dependency counseling and home-visiting parenting programs for youth and families in Issaquah, Snoqualmie and Riverview School District areas.
Today, Friends of Youth provides services at twenty sites in seventeen cities across Puget Sound, including north, south and east King County and south Snohomish County. To respond to the need of our communities, we’ve expanded our services for homeless youth and young adults by building and developing specific shelter and transitional housing programs. We are now the primary provider of housing and support services for homeless youth and young adults in suburban and rural east King County.  

Mission Statement
With 62 years of experience and national accreditation, Friends of Youth provides safe places and emotional support for youth and young adults in challenging circumstances. We believe all youth should have every opportunity to succeed, and our services are designed to fulfill our vision. Watch this Friends of Youth video to learn more about our work.
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Friends of Youth
13116 NE 132nd St 
Kirkland 
WA
98034 
(425) 869-6490 

Terry Pottmeyer 
President & CEO 

Programs

Friends of Youth Programs

Homeless Youth Services
Friends of Youth is the key homeless youth provider in east King County. Our street outreach team provides services to 15 Eastside cities. We offer two short-term overnight shelters for youth ages 12-18: Youth Haven in Kenmore for boys, and Youth Haven in Bellevue for girls. In October 2012, we opened a combined young adult (ages 18-24) emergency shelter and drop-in center in Redmond. This new facility will provide extensive daytime drop-in services 5 days a week, and overnight emergency shelter for up to 15 youth 7 days a week for the area’s homeless youth. Five Transitional Living sites provide housing, case management, mental health counseling, parenting education and employment services for homeless young adults and young families.

Youth and Family Services
Our counseling and family support services for children, youth and families are provided by licensed therapists in local schools and in our offices in Issaquah, Snoqualmie and Carnation/Duvall.  Mental health counseling, substance abuse prevention/treatment and parent education are available for students and families. Drop-out prevention and academic support programs are offered to middle-school aged youth.

Residential Services
Since 1954, Griffin Home Residential Treatment Center in Renton has provided adolescent boys with treatment services in 24-hour staffed residential facilities. Individual, group and family therapy; life skills training; educational services; and recreation activities are provided. Griffin Home has programs for unaccompanied, undocumented youth including young adults transitioning to independent living and is one of the few residential treatment providers for sexually aggressive youth in the state.

Recent Successes and Current Challenges

Friends of Youth has operated the only emergency overnight shelter for young adults on the Eastside since 2002. We remodeled a new space in Redmond to create our Homeless Youth Services Center. This is a safe and welcoming place for homeless young people with 5 days of drop-in service (for youth ages 15-21) and 7 nights of emergency shelter (for youth ages 18-24). Our Homeless Youth Services Center is a much needed next step in providing key interventions for homeless youth to help move them to safety and stability. The Center opened in October 2012 and provides: emergency support, showers, food, clothing, computer access, hygiene kits, snack packs, bus tickets and lockers.

We need willing volunteers to bring hot meals each night to the Center (our "Dinner Donors"). Private gifts are critical as we add to staff to provide expanded service hours to our new site.

See a video about The Landing and Friends of Youth

Visit our Facebook page for updates: http://www.facebook.com/friendsofyouth

Evaluation


Friends of Youth (FOY) provides safe places for youth to live, and emotional support for youth and young adults facing challenging circumstances.  FOY believes that all youth should have every opportunity to succeed. 

Use of Best Practices
Friends of Youth is accredited nationally by the Council of Accreditation of Services for Families and Children (COA), reflecting the agency’s commitment to best practices and outcome-based evaluation. They completed the 2012 COA reaccreditation process and been successful in being accredited for another 4 years. Reaccreditation is a major achievement that demonstrates recognition as a provider that continues to successfully implement high performance standards and, as such, is delivering the highest quality services to all of its stakeholders. 

Proven Success
Friends of Youth has a nationally recognized transitional living program for teen parents and young single adults, and provides transitional living services specifically targeted to single homeless pregnant or parenting young women and their children. Services include street-based and drop-in outreach, emergency overnight shelter, transitional living programs, case management, mental health counseling and permanent housing support.  In FY 2012, they served 2,527 homeless youth and young adults, a 26% increase from FY 2011.

Partnerships and Collaboration
Friends of Youth actively works with YouthCare, Cocoon House and Auburn Youth Resources in the Puget Sound Runaway and Homeless Youth Collaboration to provide a regional response to youth and young adult homelessness. As programmatic partners, each agency cover a specific geographic area to avoid duplication of services and regularly refer homeless youth to our respective outreach, shelter and housing programs.  They are also active on the Eastside Homeless Advisory Committee which coordinates homeless services in East King County.

Grant History with The Seattle Foundation:

Grants Awarded through The Seattle Foundation Grantmaking Program:

DateAmountPurpose
3/10/2013 $20,000.00provide general operating support.
3/10/2012 $20,000.00support general operating expenses.
3/10/2011 $20,000.00support general operating expenses.
12/10/2009 $25,000.00support general operating expenses.
12/14/2006 $60,000.00support the capital campaign for the Duvall Community Services and Family Housing Building and general operating expenses.
12/16/2004 $40,000.00support the purchase of computer and video equipment.

Financials

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