November 16, 2017 Verizon Forges New Partnership with Friends of the Children–Portland Awards $40,000 grant to benefit local children. PORTLAND, Ore. — Friends of the Children–Portland, a nonprofit agency serving Portland children through its high-impact mentoring program that leverages the power of relationships to enact meaningful change, recently received a $40,000 grant from Verizon to expand its work. Verizon is committed to improving educational outcomes for children facing the greatest barriers, which led to its partnership with Friends of the Children–Portland. Friends of the Children identifies youth living facing multiple systemic obstacles beginning in kindergarten and then provides a professional, salaried mentor who spends the next 12+ years ensuring their youth have every opportunity to succeed in their education and in life. Through their highly-effective model, youth overwhelmingly succeed at breaking destructive generational cycles with 83 percent graduating high school, 93 percent avoiding the juvenile justice system and 98 percent avoiding teen parenting. “Friends of the Children provides a unique model that has a significant positive impact, not just on the lives of the kids they mentor, but also on the broader community. Schools, families, neighborhoods and the greater region benefit from children graduating and becoming productive adults realizing their full potential,” said Milt Doumit, Vice President of NW State Government Affairs at Verizon. For every $1 spent on the Friends of the Children–Portland mentorship program, $7 is returned to the community, according to the Harvard Alumni Association of Oregon research. Verizon recognizes this as a great opportunity to invest in the children in the Portland community. About Friends of the Children–Portland Founded in 1993, Friends of the Children–Portland works to identify children facing multiple systemic obstacles and relentlessly dedicates resources to them for their entire childhood to create real generational change. For more information, visit www.friendspdx.org. About Verizon Foundation Verizon Foundation believes that every kid deserves a chance to bring his or her ideas to life. Their goal is to inspire tomorrow’s creators to use technology to build brighter futures for themselves, their families and the world. For more information about grants given by Verizon, please visit http://www.verizon.com/about/responsibility/giving-and-grants.