FRIENDS Association for Children: 154 Years of Quality Support For Children
Partner Spotlights are a platform for Robins Foundation grantees to highlight their important work and for Robins Foundation to recognize the incredible efforts and successes of our partners. This month, our Administrative and Operations Coordinator, Annaliese Santana, interviewed J. David Young, Executive Director of the FRIENDS Association for Children. For 154 years, FRIENDS Association has provided essential support to families and their children. As the Executive Director of one of the most seasoned nonprofit organizations in Richmond, David Young provided exciting insights on the importance of familial support, music & performing arts, and the Head Start program in advancing early childhood development.
Can you please describe, at a high level, what the FRIENDS Association for Children does?
FRIENDS is a licensed, early education provider that works with children ages 6-weeks to 12-years of age. We provide children with a safe and nurturing environment where they can learn, grow and play. We provide three nutritious meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack. While we work in the early childhood space, we are more than a childcare center or an early education provider – as I am a firm believer that you can only have the best impact on a child if you engage with their entire family.
We have two community-based facilities – one in Gilpin Court and one in Church Hill – and feel it is vitally important that we operate in areas near the vulnerable children and families we serve. We are open from Monday through Friday, 6am and 6pm, to serve working parents.
We realized during the pandemic that many of the parents may not be first responders but are essential employees that work in grocery stores, gas stations, hotels for example – occupations that helped keep the economy going. Which supports how important it is that FRIENDS is here for them.
What inspired the creation of this organization?
FRIENDS Association for Children is one of the oldest nonprofit service providers in Richmond, if not in the country. We were founded by Lucy Goode Brooks, a former slave, in 1871. She worked with several area churches (many that are still around today) and advocated for children and unwed mothers to help provide an opportunity for a better life. She could often be heard saying, “we should do better by our children.” One of the greatest needs in the community at the time was a place to care for the children who had been separated from their families. So, the churches and members of her sewing circle helped raise money, petitioned the city, and was given the land where the Friends Asylum for Colored Orphans was established.
After a few generations of housing children and supporting unwed mothers, FRIENDS provided adoption and foster care services across the area. As time passed, the state of Virginia managed these services for residents of the Commonwealth, and FRIENDS then began to focus on early childhood education, where we continue to serve a critical and growing need.
On your website, you all mention that your programs emphasize early literacy. Can you walk me through how you all do that?
Kindergarten is where I learned most of the fundamentals of reading but now children are expected to know their letters, numbers, shapes, and sounds before they even begin school. At FRIENDS, we focus on building a strong academic foundation to help prepare children for success in school. Our curriculum helps develop these critical skills, while teachers and Social Workers identify early challenges and use tailored interventions so that no child is left behind. We help young children build their fine and gross motor skills, and foster social-emotional development. We found that children who can access early education programs and attend preschool are heads and shoulders above their classmates as they enroll in kindergarten.
Can you tell me about your family support services?
As mentioned previously – in order to have the greatest positive impact on a child, you must also address the needs of their family. In addition to our wonderful early educators, we are fortunate to have Social Workers on staff that help address the needs of the whole family. These needs can vary between things like rent, transportation, food assistance, etc. There are many social services and resources in Richmond but not everyone knows about them, or how to access them. Our Social Workers are engaged directly with parents, providing information and making referrals to other non-profits and assistance programs that may be able to help them. This all comes down to trust; the parents must have someone that they trust with the care and education of their precious children.
For our school-age students, we created a way to increase parent-teacher engagement. We learned that many teachers were often frustrated with the lack of parental involvement with school activities and the low attendance at parent-teacher conferences. To make it easier for families, we invited teachers to our facilities for these sessions. It was much easier for our families to engage with teachers at our site to learn about their child’s academic performance and build more of a partnership with the school staff.
One of your programs is your Music and Performing Arts program. What does this program offer?
Our Music Education and Performing Arts program supplements the classroom activities and is open for any child in the city of Richmond. We have many instruments – including keyboards, woodwinds, and percussions – and recruit volunteers to help introduce the children to their creative side through music. The program also helps to build self-confidence in the children. It is free to children enrolled at FRIENDS. A nominal fee is charged to children who are not, which helps us maintain the instruments for use by more children. One of the key benefits of this program is that studies have shown that participation in music and performing arts also helps improve reading and writing skills.
We are always looking for volunteers to help us reach more children. In fact, we have had volunteers from VCU, University of Richmond, and Virginia Union University music programs and even from the Richmond Symphony. One volunteer recently shared a story about one of his students who fell in love with the violin. She stayed in the program and worked with the same volunteer for years. This student recently completed her first year of college, and she is still playing violin. During her Freshman year, she made the Chancellor’s list which is an even higher academic honor than the Dean’s List. I feel like the connection to music helped her grow & flourish and is a perfect example of how the music program enhances what we do at FRIENDS.
Who is eligible for programs at the FRIENDS Association?
All families with children between 6-weeks to 12 years of age are eligible for our programs and services. We do, however, have a waiting list for the infant and toddler classes, as the need in these age groups continues to grow. We tell new parents to get on a childcare waiting list once they find out they’re pregnant, because childcare of this age group is limited everywhere. In our preschool programs, we offer a variety of payment options. We offer Head Start and Mixed Delivery programs, as well as ‘contract’ options through the Department of Social Services. Eligibility for all our programs is based on household income, making our programs accessible and affordable for all. In some instances, there may be co-payments required, but in others, there are no fees at all. Anyone can reach us via our website. But we encourage prospective parents and families to call us (804-644-2357) so we can connect them with our staff Social Workers. That way, we can understand the dynamics of a family and direct them to programs that best align with their needs.
What motivates you to do this work?
I was raised in a single-parent household and understand just how difficult that can be. My six siblings and I had significant role models in our mother (and grandmother). My mother had five boys and two girls, and looking back I am amazed at how these single women raised five ‘hardheaded’ boys. They were incredible and did a wonderful job with what they had to work with. To me, they were nothing less than “Saints.” One of the things that stood out for me the most is that they knew to take advantage of resources in the community to help us become productive young men and women. They found and utilized the resources and programs in the community and church to help us become the adults we are today. It is no coincidence that the lessons we were taught are the reason most of my siblings and I work in the public sector, helping others and the communities where we live and work.
How, if at all, have federal funding cuts impacted your organization?
As stated earlier, FRIENDS provides daily meals to the children in our programs, which is funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) but with the cuts and uncertainties at the federal level, we are not sure how we will be impacted long-term. We were recently informed that Head Start – another federally funded program which is managed locally by the Richmond Public Schools (RPS) – has cut about two hundred slots in the Richmond area this fall, primarily impacting community-based organizations, like FRIENDS. Two of our four Head Start classrooms have been eliminated, and 35 Head Start students will not have access to preschool services in their own community.
Is there anything you would like to promote in this interview? Like an upcoming initiative or an awareness month?
We are truly blessed to receive tremendous support from local residents, businesses, and the philanthropic community. While we continue to fundraise to help make ends meet, I would like to add that volunteering is just as important.
We have a program called “Leaders are Readers” where we bring in different groups to read to the children. For example, we have first responders, police, firefighters, local politicians, media personnel, etc., come in and connect with our children. And at each of these events, we partner with the Lit Library or The Enchanted Bookmobile and each student receives free books to help build their ‘home libraries’, and encourage reading at home– which is a best practice to promote and build reading proficiency.
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To learn more about FRIENDS Association’s incredible work, please visit: https://friendsrva.org/
