Give your child the gift of a mentor —  a new friend.

Complete a child application to start the process.

Kinship is a local, 56-year-old community and faith-based mentoring organization, with a  mentoring program that works! Our approach to recruiting, screening, matching and supporting our mentoring relationships has resulted in relationships that last over 3 years – well over the national average for mentoring relationships. Kinship has helped change the lives of over 1600 young people in Hennepin and Anoka counties.

Researchers with Public/Private Ventures in Philadelphia (1992-1993) found that after 18 months of spending time with their mentors, kids were:

• 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs
• 27% less likely to begin using alcohol
• 52% less likely to skip school
• 37% less likely to skip a class
• more confident of their performance in schoolwork
• 33% less likely to hit someone
• getting along better with their families and peers

Parents are our Partners. We value our families as much as our kids.

We’ll work closely with you because your input is important. Not only do you provide information about your child’s strengths and needs, but you approve the selection of the Mentor match. Kinship will contact you regularly, and we welcome your feedback at any time. Once the match is made, parents remain closely involved in several key ways:

• Approving match activities and supporting your child’s involvement;
• Asking your child questions about the match meetings and reporting any concerns to staff; and
• Regularly reporting back to Kinship about your child’s progress and milestones in the match relationship.

Kinship reserves the right to deny enrollment to a child applying to the Kinship program if the program does not seem to be a good fit for the child.

You can be assured that your child’s safety and well-being is our highest priority!

PARENT RESOURCE: Kinship friend and community partner, Becky Danielson, M.Ed., is a Christian wife and mother. She and her husband, Scott, live in Minneapolis with their two sons. Becky is a licensed Parent and Family Educator. She has a Masters Degree in Education and a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education with additional certifications in Kindergarten and Early Childhood Education. Becky is passionate about families and how Scripture relates to family life. Her commitment to teach her sons the Word of God and her own journey of faith have increased her desire to share the Bible as it relates to parenting.

Becky is the coauthor of Empowered Parent: Putting Faith First, and two new books are on the horizon! Additional information is available at www.beckydanielson.com. To book a class, retreat or parenting seminar, contact Becky at faithfirstparent@aol.com.

For wonderful parenting tips, follow Becky’s blog