Social Innovation Luncheon: Changing Childhood Poverty Outcomes For Dallas

Friends of the Children is a thirty-year-old national organization committed to breaking the cycle of generational poverty by identifying kindergarten-aged children facing the greatest obstacles and providing them with a full-time, salaried, professional mentor called a "Friend" for the next 12.5 years. Friends spend ~2 hours per week with each child in their classroom and another ~2 hours together outside of school, always working intentionally to build core assets the children must master to succeed. In addition to avoiding teen parenting and the juvenile justice system, Friends' goal is to empower their children to graduate from high school with the next steps in place.

Leaders in the Austin chapter launched in 2017, helped support the launch of a Friends chapter in Houston in 2023 at the behest of supporter Simone Biles. Now that the organization has state funding momentum, a Friends of the Children Texas chapter has been created to focus on building a presence in Dallas and other major Texas cities.

Featured Speakers:
- Nancy Pollard, Executive Director of Friends of the Children-Texas
- Miguel Solis, President, Commit Partnership
- Alan Cohen, Founder and CEO, Child Poverty Action Lab (CPAL)
- Judge Clay Jenkins, Chief Elected Official, Dallas County

*SILS tickets are not considered a charitable donation for tax purposes.
* Members of the media/press should email Seth Block, Director of Collective Impact (sblock@svpdallas.org) for press credentials. We ask that members of the media, who are attending SILS for the purposes of reporting, request press credentials and do not purchase a ticket.

Category: Community | Fundraisers | Charities