Find-A-Friend Youth Program

Two Ways to Volunteer for this Program:

1. Volunteer For This Program Online
or
2. Fill out the Volunteer Application and mail it or bring it to us.

Youth Referral Form

The Find-A-Friend (FAF) program has been in existence since 1982. It was one of the first mentoring programs that Governor Hunt supported and established in North Carolina. Find-A-Friend is one of four programs that the Fayetteville Urban Ministry (FUM) organization parents or houses. The mission of Find-A-Friend is to provide the juvenile court system an alternative program that will help deter youth ages 6-18 that are presently involved in the court system or at-risk from ultimate placement in youth detention centers.

Find-A-Friend’s Mission: Is to deter youth ages 6-18 from adjudication or further court involvement by improving behavior, enhancing academic achievements, and building positive relationships within the community.

There are four pieces to this program:

The JCPC Interpersonal Skills
Provides weekly group sessions with structure and guidance for identifying problems or issues with youth. The youth served (at-risk & law enforcement involved) generally ages 9-17 get the tools to strengthen their social skills, modify behavior, and improve relationships at home/school/community, avoiding any or further court involvement. The group sessions and workshops provide educational, recreational, and cultural activities applied with life skills lessons to help youth achieve their short and long term goals.

Mentoring for At-Risk/Law Enforcement Youth - Strives to match mentors for youth that are deemed at-risk for behavior or court involvement. The youth under this component are considered at- risk due to the fact that statistics prove they are in a higher percentage of becoming incarcerated themselves. Youth ages served are 4-18. The mentoring component matches these youth up with adult positive role models in a mentor-protégé relationship. Each volunteer/mentor is required to spend 8 hours per month or 2 hours weekly for a full year with his or her youth.

GATE (Gang Awareness Through Education) - GATE uses A.R.T (Aggression Replacement Training) along with other program approved curriculums. This program is designed to help youth ages 12-17 learn life skills, social skills, leadership skills, anger management skills and conflict resolution skills. Outside the aforementioned skills the youth are also given tools to make positive “peer selecting” decisions which changes their environment and circle of negative peers. The youth served are identified as level II juvenile court offenders and are given on-going weekly group sessions.

LIFE (Leadership, Integrity, Fitness, & Education) component- Is a new initiative and partnership between Cumberland County Schools (CCS) and Find-A-Friend (FAF) program that will begin the in calendar school year 2010.  Services provided will be:

The program will primarily use the site of Walker-Spivey Alternative School  at 4 days a week afterschool.  The program will target Students ages 12 – 18 who are also:

1. Adjudicated or
2. At-risk of school failure or
3. At-risk of gang involvement or
4. Attending an Alternative School due to discipline problems
5. Students that need the education credits to catch up and in order to graduate in timely fashion

These services will be instrumental for those students who are behind socially and academically as the program will allow those that qualify to get individual service plans.

The FAF program uses these 4 fulltime components along with parent support workshops and trainings to provide “wrap around” services for youth in the community.

FAF Summer Achievement Camps & Incentives

(For successful and progressing youth)

The rewards and incentives of achieving goals in the Find-A-Friend program are truly about a support system for the youth. Each summer FAF runs its summer camps from June-August for all youth that has excelled and improved behavior since their enrollment in the program. These camps are about exposing the youth to diversification, educational, personal enrichment activities. Through donations and grants within the community the youth are able to take trips to the Asheboro, N.C Zoo, Ft. Fisher Aquarium of Wilmington, N.C, Exploris Museum of Raleigh, N.C, Emerald Point of Greensboro, N.C and the Planetarium are just to name a few. Other activities include swimming, ice and roller skating, rock climbing, fishing, clay molding, cooking and visiting theatres. The biggest and most traditional incentive for the FAF program is the Myrtle Beach trip. All youth that qualify for this trip have a great academic record and great behavior record during their tenure in the program. Each year FAF gives a scholarship from the Fred and June Aysse donations through Cumberland Community Foundation. This is awarded to a youth or young adult that has graduated from the FAF program successfully, completed high school, has stayed away from the court system and has enrolled in college. The local Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, Governor’s Crime Commission, and Children of Prisoners federal grant are the biggest funding sources to the FAF program. However, community donations, fund raisers, and smaller funding grants through Fayetteville Urban Ministry all make it possible to serve the wide variety and population of youth that work with.

FAF Advisory Council

Chair: Bobbi Hair bobbi3610@yahoo.com

Vice Chair: Pamela Story Venus_28301@yahoo.com

Mailing Address: PO Box 1171, Fayetteville NC, 28302

Street Address:

725 West Rowan Street | Fayetteville NC 28301 | 910.483.4661 (o) | 910.483.4984 (f)