Youth and Family Services

Helping students succeed in school is a powerful way to prevent intergenerational poverty. Impact Northwest provides educational programs and support services to students in schools throughout the Portland metro area. Programs engage parents and community members in children’s education, while reaching students most at risk of dropping out or participating in unhealthy activities. Through each of our youth programs, families can gain access to Impact Northwest’s array of anti-poverty services that promote safe, stable home environments and support healthy growth and development.

Impact Mentoring builds relationships between dedicated volunteer mentors and youth ages 5 to 18. Mentors and students meet weekly and engage in a variety of mutually enjoyable activities. By connecting youth with volunteer mentors, Impact Mentoring helps young people succeed in school, improve their self-esteem, and reduce risky behaviors such as drug abuse and violence.

The Independent Living Program (ILP) assists foster care youth ages 14 to 21 in gaining the skills they need to successfully transition out of foster care and into adulthood. This is achieved by helping our youth set and reach attainable goals through one-on-one meetings, weekly classes on job readiness, and social and skill-building activities and events.

Impact Northwest’s Kids on the Block Awareness Program uses puppetry performances to connect with youth and provide them with the skills to communicate their needs and identify the values they want to express through their lives.

Impact Northwest manages Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN)/Community Schools programs which transform schools into community learning centers to promote academic achievement and regular attendance. From after school arts classes to individual tutoring, our SUN/Community School programs are changing lives in some of the metropolitan area’s highest needs schools.

Impact Northwest’s Social and Support Services for Educational Success (SSSES) provides supportive services to adolescents ages 12 to 17 — particularly those who are at risk of dropping out, attending alternative schools, and those who have low rates of school attendance — to help these youth remain in school and/or get back in school.

Urban Opportunities, one of Impact Northwest’s newest programs, is an innovative job-training and placement program. It provides job-skills training and employment opportunities for approximately 100 underserved youth per year.

For more information about these services, please call (503) 988-5961.