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Have A Paid Career In Mentoring With 'Friends LA' and Help Change Lives · The iHeart SoCal Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hi, It's Lisa Fox for the iHeart so Cal Show.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Today we're talking about Friends of the Children Los Angeles
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: or Friends LA. They're a nonprofit dedicated to ending multi
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: generational poverty by pairing up youth facing systemic obstacles with
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: full time, salaried professional mentors called Friends. Unlike traditional volunteer mentoring,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: these professionals commit to supporting young people ages four to
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: six all the way through high school graduation. Wow. And
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: their big event, Summerfest, is caught up on June twenty
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: seventh the Neco Park. They're looking for sponsors, they need
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: volunteers and ooh, we'll ask if they're looking for paid mentors.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Looking to hire some paid mentors. Friendszelai dot org for
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: all the inphib and on the telsmore is their executive director,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Jory dos Hi. Jory, Hi, how are you doing all right?
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Excited to hear how this all works? And while paying
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: somebody to stay committed to these kids, that must make
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: a massive difference, right, I mean, volunteering is always needed,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: it's always great, but pain me and someone to stay
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: committed to these kids for a huge chunk of their
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: formative years is kind of everything. I mean I'd like
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  Speaker 1: to think paying somebody is going to help make sure
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: they stick around for these kids.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, yes, and so we serve children and families all
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: across Los Angeles County. Like you kind of mentioned already,
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  Speaker 2: these are children that have been impacted by foster care
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  Speaker 2: and other systemic barriers. So we're looking for four professionals. Now,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: these are folks that have maybe shared lived experience in
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  Speaker 2: the system. Maybe they're adjudicated youth, they're young people that
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  Speaker 2: have aged out of foster care, or they've also worked
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: in social services. And you get to be a paid
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  Speaker 2: professional mentor where this is all you get to do
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  Speaker 2: forty hours a week, you work with just eight kids
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  Speaker 2: on your caseload, not something like sixty that a lot
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  Speaker 2: of our social workers have to do. Wow, And you
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: get to make a long term commitment. You make a
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: twelve year commitment to every child. So it's this relationship
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  Speaker 2: based model that we run.
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  Speaker 1: Sure Sure And I love that you mentioned. You know,
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  Speaker 1: we do a lot on this show with foster organizations
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: and people who care for foster youth and what happens
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: to some of these foster youth once they age out,
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  Speaker 1: and how they want to if they've had an experience
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  Speaker 1: where they were embraced by one of these nonprofits, and
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  Speaker 1: they're like, I want to pay it forward and come
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: back and help young people who are stuck in the
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: foster system going through a terrible time. I want to
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  Speaker 1: pay it forward and give back and be that guidance
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  Speaker 1: that that I didn't have, you know what I mean.
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  Speaker 1: So I love it. So many foster youth are now
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  Speaker 1: paying forward and coming back as hired mentors to help
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: other foster youth. Tell me kind of like the background
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: of how Friends of the Children Friends at LA got started.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Sure, we actually started in twenty seventeen. So anytime
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  Speaker 2: the Friends of the Children chapter starts, because there's about
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: forty five chapters across the county, sees me across the
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: country nationally. Okay, we started in twenty seventeen and the
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  Speaker 2: Department of Children's Family Services invited us as well as
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: a few other major donors, and it was really about
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: changing the trajectory of children that were entering foster care.
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  Speaker 2: They were looking for really innovative preventive models that could
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: do it, and they had heard a lot about our
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: thirty year evidence base model that we had been running
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: all across the country and they wanted to initiate it
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  Speaker 2: here and so when we started, we really just looked
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  Speaker 2: at the data, where are there more children that are
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: unfortunately entering foster care, and that is actually in South
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: central Los Angeles. That data really hasn't changed in the
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: last ten years, and so when we launched it was
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  Speaker 2: just serving children in South central. Now we have grown
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  Speaker 2: to five sites across the county, so we're entirely county wide,
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  Speaker 2: so if a child moved or they have a different placement,
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  Speaker 2: we're able to actually follow them, Whereas you know, in
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  Speaker 2: the past, just only serving one zip code or one neighborhood,
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  Speaker 2: it really disabled us from actually making that twelve year commitment.
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  Speaker 2: So now we can make that commitment for the full
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  Speaker 2: twelve years. There's a lot of family friendly activities. We're
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: serving whole family outcomes, and that we're not just only
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: supporting the child, We're wrapping support around the caregiver as well,
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  Speaker 2: so they're really working on building their own protective capacities
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: so they can show it for their children as well.
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  Speaker 1: So again this is not just like hey, I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to take this kid to Disneyland. You know, this is
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  Speaker 1: a full on life commitment and you know, mixed in
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  Speaker 1: with some I'm sure, like you said, family friendly activities
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  Speaker 1: fun along the way, because life does include fun, and
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  Speaker 1: young people who are going through a terrible time deserve
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: that like everyone does, every young person, every human being
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  Speaker 1: deserves some fun and Gosstarn Disneyland. But getting through life
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: can be tough enough. So when you hear about these kids,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: where are you getting first told about these kids? Is
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  Speaker 1: that through social services or from their school or how
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  Speaker 1: do you find the actual kids who are in need
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  Speaker 1: of a mentor through a friends la?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, great question. Our highest referral partners are always you know, DCFS,
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  Speaker 2: Department Children Family Services, the Department of Mental Health, schools
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  Speaker 2: for sure, because they are also mandated supporters. And then
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  Speaker 2: other community based organizations that you know, spend just as
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  Speaker 2: maybe as much time with these families and maybe no
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  Speaker 2: more back in their history. And so you know, our
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  Speaker 2: big thing is like children don't just need services, they
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: need someone who stays. And so those are typically the
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  Speaker 2: referral partners that come through. And because children experience a
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  Speaker 2: lot of change through service providers and caregivers and schools,
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  Speaker 2: like consistency is really one of the most powerful interventions
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  Speaker 2: we can offer. That's why these providers will make the
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  Speaker 2: referrals to us directly.
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  Speaker 1: Now, are you always looking to hire more mentors? Are
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: you good? Right now?
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  Speaker 2: We are always looking for more mentors because, like I've mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: we've you know, we've completely deepened our impact across the
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: county and so we're always looking for more mentors that
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: could show up in neighborhoods that maybe we haven't had
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  Speaker 2: as much contact in. And we've just recently explored expanding
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  Speaker 2: out to San Fernando Valley, so we'd welcome anybody that's
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: living out in that area. Again, like I mentioned, you
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  Speaker 2: have shared with experience with the system, You've worked in
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  Speaker 2: social services. You've had at least six years of experience
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  Speaker 2: working with young people. If you go to our website
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  Speaker 2: at friends La dot, you'll find our job board and
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  Speaker 2: you'll see our most recent listings for a professional mentor
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  Speaker 2: role out in that area.
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  Speaker 1: I love that. So what you just kind of mentioned
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  Speaker 1: is kind of the qualifications. Plus, loving young people want
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  Speaker 1: to have an important impact in their life, like a
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  Speaker 1: stable parent, like a stable loved person, a loved one
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  Speaker 1: who is their person that they can rely on. What
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  Speaker 1: is the contact now, as a mentor, as a paid
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  Speaker 1: mentor through your program, a paid friend. What kind of
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  Speaker 1: contact are they having? So you say your mentors have
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: about eight eight kids that they are paired up with.
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  Speaker 1: What kind of contact are we talking daily? Are we
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: talking about homework? Are we talking about school trips? Are
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: driving them here?
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  Speaker 2: Like?
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  Speaker 1: How involved? How are we doing all this with eight people?
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  Speaker 1: Say I'm a mentor and I've got eight am I
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  Speaker 1: checking in every day, talking, texting and making plans.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question. I think a lot of
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  Speaker 2: times people ask us like, well, what does a mentor
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: actually do? Like what does contact look like week to week?
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  Speaker 2: And since they are paid professional mentors, they usually get
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  Speaker 2: a schedule with each of their kids, so they'll work
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: with a small group of youths so they can build
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  Speaker 2: that you know, deep meaningful relationship over time. So they
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  Speaker 2: spend time at least two hours in the home and
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  Speaker 2: then two hours in the classroom every week with every child,
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  Speaker 2: So you know that's that might look like helping with homework,
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  Speaker 2: or attending a school event, or exploring career interests and
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  Speaker 2: practicing life skills, or visiting a museum, going to a park,
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  Speaker 2: or just simply sitting talking about what's happening in their lives.
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  Speaker 2: They also build five goals annually with each of the
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  Speaker 2: kids and also with their caregivers, so you know, they're
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  Speaker 2: also there during the important moments. So they're celebrating successes,
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  Speaker 2: they're navigating challenges, they're being advocates at that child's school.
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  Speaker 2: They're also helping that youth set goals for the future.
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  Speaker 2: And so yeah, they get to see them pretty frequently,
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  Speaker 2: at least four hours a week, sixteen total hours a month.
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  Speaker 1: And I would even think maybe if it was apropos
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  Speaker 1: that maybe if I have eight kids, I'm mentionoring, maybe
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  Speaker 1: they could meet each other and they can become kind
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  Speaker 1: of right, they could meet each other and meet kind
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  Speaker 1: of buddies. Or we could do group things together.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that happens all the time. So we
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  Speaker 2: do as many group activities as possible, because, as I
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  Speaker 2: mentioned before, it's like these kids, you know, move a lot,
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  Speaker 2: and or like they don't have the social connection. So
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  Speaker 2: outside of building that you know, community within a school,
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  Speaker 2: it's great to have it outside of school. And so
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  Speaker 2: a lot of our youth, you know, I met them
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  Speaker 2: when they were four and now they're fifteen and they've
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  Speaker 2: grown up with each other too. But I think what's
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  Speaker 2: really powerful about paid mentors is it's not just a
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  Speaker 2: volunteer opportunity. But you know, our model is intentionally built
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  Speaker 2: around the paid professional mentors because we're asking for an
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  Speaker 2: extraordinary level of commitment and so our mentors are bringing
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  Speaker 2: that to the kids. And they're also building community alongside them.
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  Speaker 2: So as school changes or family transitions and kids are
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  Speaker 2: going into adolescents or there's major life milestones, they also
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  Speaker 2: get to navigate that also with other kids in the program,
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  Speaker 2: and that's really important.
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  Speaker 1: And like you said, I mean, the whole thing about
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  Speaker 1: this is having someone you know you can rely on, right,
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  Speaker 1: having someone you know that will be there for you
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  Speaker 1: no matter what, And and the gifts that comes along
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  Speaker 1: with that is knowing you are the person for someone
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  Speaker 1: who may have ended up in a bad place. You know,
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  Speaker 1: there's terrible stories out there. What happens is a lot
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  Speaker 1: of our foster youth and to have that reliable, amazing
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  Speaker 1: mentor that they can count on no matter what is
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  Speaker 1: a big deal. So that's what friends LA provides. And
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  Speaker 1: you said about how many kids are you mentoring right
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  Speaker 1: now in Southern California?
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  Speaker 2: We currently service over three hundred children.
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  Speaker 1: Three hundred okay, and then everyone's getting ready to have
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  Speaker 1: a little fun all together at your big Summer Fest
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  Speaker 1: on June twenty seventh in Echo Park.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, Summerfest is like one of the first of its kind,
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  Speaker 2: you know. Really it's an opportunity for us to bring
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  Speaker 2: all of our families together from across all of our
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  Speaker 2: five sites, you know, like I said, where there's nearly
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: three hundred kids that are going to come for an
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  Speaker 2: afternoon of fun and connection and celebration and community building.
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  Speaker 2: And Summerfest is specifically for the kids and families that
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: are actually enrolled in our program. It's really designed to
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  Speaker 2: celebrate the relationships that we're talking about in the community
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  Speaker 2: that helps our young people thrive. And there will be
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: family friendly activities and gains and recreation, lots of food,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: community building opportunities, activities for our youth and caregivers, and
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: just a full celebration for our friends la families. And
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  Speaker 2: we're really incredibly grateful to our partners that are helping
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: make Summerfest possible. I want to say a huge thank
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  Speaker 2: you to Columbia Bank and Stigma and Not Creative and
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: Tinmee and crane. Their support is really what's helping create
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: a meaningful experience for the children and families we serve.
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  Speaker 2: And so we are specifically looking for volunteers and any
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  Speaker 2: other community partners or sponsors people that are interested in
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  Speaker 2: leading activities or activations. You can certainly reach out to
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: us at info at Friendsla dot org. And it's a
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  Speaker 2: simple day really about bringing our mission to life and
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: making sure all of our supporters can see it in action,
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  Speaker 2: and that our youth and caregivers can see how many
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: people are wrapping support around them too every day outside
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  Speaker 2: of just their mentors.
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  Speaker 1: And to have fun and just have a good kid time,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: have some fun.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, always, yeah, every child deserves one consistent adult in
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: their corner. But it really takes a village, as we
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: know it does.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: And Jory as the executive director, now, how long have
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: you been with them and what's your background in helping
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: young people thrive?
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  Speaker 2: So I've actually been with the organization since twenty nineteen.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: I started as the chief of staff and then I
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: took over as executive director in twenty twenty one, and
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: so I you know, came to this work both professionally
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: and personally. I also spent time in foster care as
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: a young person, so I really understand the firsthand importance
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: of having adults who believe in you and help you
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  Speaker 2: navigate challenges. For me, that was my social worker, and
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: you know, professionally, I've spent my career working with children,
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: working with children that are emancipating like I did, and
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: families who are impacted by foster care and other systemic barriers.
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  Speaker 2: And so today I have this privilege is serving as
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: the eed for friends and children Los Angeles where I
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: get to really help ensure that more young people have
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: that kind of long term support and the relationships that
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: really can change the trajectory of their lives.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Sure, God bless you, but it's a lot of work.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: But boys that rewarding to know that you helped kind
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: of love on a person and be there for them
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and get them on the quote unquote right track, but
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: make them feel like feel loved and feel connected and
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: feel like someone is there for them. That could change everything.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Just that, But being there consistently for some a young
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: person who's going through so much, like you said, moving
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: around and going to foster them, to foster home and
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: being you know, kids come to the world, and sometimes
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: in all kinds of situations and they don't always have
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: the stable family. Parents end up in jail or drugs
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: and alcohol, all kinds of situations, or there's abuse, and
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: to have new people come in and be that strength
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: is just everything. So for what you all provide, like
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: you said looking for mentors, paid mentors, Well, am I
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: allowed to ask? How much is a good decent salary?
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Is a good salary? What you pay these mentors to
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: do this?
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we start at fifty five K, pretty typical for
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: a case manager. But again, like you know, it's really
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: about we offer benefits, We cover your mileage, Like this
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: isn't a volunteer gig. Yeah, like you're really getting your
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: foot in the door. But we're really proud of like
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: how we're showing up for our mentors and there's so
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: much opportunity for professional development, and we have incredible retention,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: like our mentors stay on average seven years like that
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: really well have a lot of other jobs out of
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: the water when you think about where it might be
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: easy to job hop. But people are really excited about
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: watching children grow and being part of their childhood and
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: their early adolescens. And so please check us out. We
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: are always looking for more mentors, more people to join
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: our team.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: It sounds like it'd be so fulfilling, right, I mean,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: like you said, like what you've been through, now look
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: what you're doing again. Paying it forward, helping these kids
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: get their lives on track and with paid mentors who
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: are not going to be leaving their side anytime soon,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: to walk them through the stages of life and through
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: all the ups and downs and in betweens, could really
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: just help these young people who are going through so
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: much have a better chance at a great quality of
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: life and turn out okay, turn out great skys, limit
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: with their future. You know, you just never know how
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: much this love and guidance and care for their well
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: being could make all the difference in the world. It
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: has to. So thank you for all that you do
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: for these young people. I'm sure they are very grateful
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: and I hope they have a wonderful time at the
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: big Summer Festuen twenty seven an Echo Park And if
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: folks want to volunteer, please do a little email at
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: info at friends La dot org and just ah volunteers.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: What are you doing June twenty seventh, Can you volunteer?
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: We need you.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Volunteers play a really important role in supporting children and families.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: Like couldn't do our work without community members who give
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: their time and talents. But like, when you can make
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: mentoring a professional role, you're able to provide way more
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: extensive training and supervision and accountability and support that like
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: young people get what they deserve. They need to have stable,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: reliable relationships that they can count on over the long term,
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: not somebody that can maybe see them two hours a
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: month and then they skip it. You know, like it
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: just doesn't work that way, and kids are so used
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: to people leaving, So why the heck would we do that.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: We're not asking someone to volunteer first season, We're asking
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: them to show up for an entire childhood So we
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: don't want to create more disruption with volunteers, although it's
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: a huge thing. Volunteers are amazing, but we realized we
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: really needed to professionalize mentoring in order to do this
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: well for children.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah amen, Okay, So volunteers needed for their Summer Fest
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: event June twenty seventh and Echo Park. And if you're
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: looking to become a paid mentor to show up for
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: these kids for a huge chunk of their lives and childhood,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: childhood through high school graduation. You could be paid, it
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: could be your new career. Find out more on the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Friends of the Children Los Angeles Friends LA website at
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: friends LA.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Dot org, Friendsla dot org.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Perfect, and Jory, we will see out there. Thank you
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: so much for all that you do and Friends of
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: the Children Los Angeles Friends LA.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, thank you so much for happen me