It may only be the first quarter of 2025, but we already have a lot to share about the incredible youth and families we walk alongside, our growing team, reflections on the past year, and the path ahead!
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Empowering Families for a Resilient Future
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With the support of our community, we're enhancing our services to focus on family stability, safety, and preventing child welfare system involvement. This approach includes a pilot program utilizing the trauma-informed Strengthening Families Coping Resources (SFCR) curriculum to equip caregivers with positive parenting, coping, and communication skills.
This 10-week program, led by our Program Director, Kami Neves, provides families facing significant risk factors with a weekly family dinner and interactive activities focused on reducing trauma symptoms and building crucial skills in stress co-regulation, stability, safety, and resource access.
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Our first cohort of families completed the program in January, culminating in a heartwarming graduation ceremony where families created a "Spirituality Word Flower," symbolizing their sources of strength. Each youth and caregiver wrote what helps them keep going during challenging times on a flower petal and added the petal to the group’s flower. Caregivers and youth identified things like faith, hope, love, family, connection, being in nature, and serving others.
We are deeply inspired and proud of the positive changes and resilience demonstrated by the youth and families we serve.
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Friends - Utah is honored to be recognized as one of Utah's 100 Companies Championing Women! This award reflects our team's unwavering commitment to creating a culture that supports parents, elevates women, children, and families, and values work-life balance.
Our very own Program Director, Kami Neves, nominated us earlier this year, where she shared the following:
'Working at Friends of the Children - Utah has been incredible for me as a mother. Their family-friendly practices have allowed me to achieve work-life balance and reach my goals as a supervisor in the organization. Leadership has ensured that the organization's mission of “Put Children First” extends beyond the youth in the program to include supporting employees who are parents in putting their children first too.”
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A Huge Thank You to the Utah State Legislature!
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We are deeply grateful to the Utah State Legislature for appropriating $100,000 in one time funding to support long-term professional mentorship for youth to prevent juvenile justice involvement. Friends-Utah is especially thankful to Senator Kirk Cullimore for requesting this critical funding for our resilient youth. We know from years of research that every dollar invested in Friends of the Children returns $7 to the community, and helping one child live out a new story with the support of a dedicated Friend saves society around $900K.
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Empowering the Future: Thanks to Our Amazing Community for Their Generous Support
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A special shout out to Discovery Gateway Children's Museum Center and Salt Lake Dance Center for providing wonderful experiences to our youth, and to FinWise Bank for sponsoring our spring family engagement event. Ty and RaeJeanne McCutcheon provided a generous gift and The Utah State Legislature recognized the impact of our work with a onetime appropriation. We are grateful for the commitment and generosity of our community!
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Spreading the Word: Friends - Utah in the Media
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If you missed our executive director, Kelsey Lewis, on PBS Contact with Mary Dickson earlier this year, not to fear! You can watch the recording of her conversation with Mary Dickson now to hear first-hand about some of our network's long-term outcomes and our work with youth and families here in Utah. You can also tune in to KSL radio to hear her on the Salt Lake Chamber's "Speaking on Business" segment on March 26th.
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Our 2024 Gratitude Report | Connection and Belonging
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We are proud and excited to share our FY2024 Gratitude Report! In this year's report we celebrate importance of connection and belonging, explore stories of our youth and families and honor the generous donors who make our work possible.
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Say Hello to the Newest Members of our Team
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Heather Childs
Marketing and Administrative Coordinator
Heather first began working with children as a dance teacher, and is excited to support the youth enrolled at Friends of the Children - Utah as they work towards their goals! When she's not working, you can find Heather choreographing for community theater, crafting, and trying all kinds of new food. We are so glad that Heather is part of our team!
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Elise Forbes Wallace
Development Manager
She brings experience in grant writing, nonprofit consulting, and partnership development, as well as communications skills from her previous work in print and radio journalism. She is completing her MPA at BYU and is looking forward to beginning her journey with Friends of the Children - Utah this spring. Welcome, Elise!
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Friends of the Children - National in the Headlines
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2025 started out with a lot of good news from across our Friends of the Children network. Our Founder, Duncan Campbell, was honored with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Mentoring Summit's Excellence in Mentoring ceremony. The award recognizes his visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to mentoring that has transformed the lives of youth and families here in the Salt Lake Valley and across the country.
That same week, Tah-Jae Franklyn, a graduate of Friends of the Children - Seattle, was a featured guest on the Today Show! Tah-Jae surprised guest host Ciara, thanking her for inspiring her years ago when they met through Friends of the Children and the Why Not You Foundation. Watch the video to see Tah-Jae tell her own story beautifully on the Today Show!
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As we enter our fifth year of walking alongside youth and families, we are proud of all we have done and excited for what is to come! Just like the youth we serve, we have big goals and are working hard to achieve them - but we can't do it alone.
We are seeking Give Every Month donors who are committed to sustaining our mission of walking alongside youth and families for 12+ years, no matter what. Every monthly donation, no matter the size, makes a big difference. Please consider becoming a GEM donor today!
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Our mailing address is:
Friends of the Children - Utah
5361 S 4220 W
Suite B
Kearns, UT 84118
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