Children, Youth, & Family Services

Helping students achieve in school is a powerful way to prevent intergenerational poverty. Impact Northwest provides education programs and services to students in 21 schools. 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 services so that their children grow up in safe, stable home environments that contribute positively to their growth and development.

Impact Northwest’s Parent Child Development Services (PCDS) program is founded on the fundamental principle that parents are their children’s first and most influential teachers. The program works with parents of children ages 0-5 to help them develop the skills they need tosupport their children’s learning and development.

Healthy Start promotes positive parent-child relationships and the healthy growth and development of children of at-risk, first-birth families. This program serves families with children ages 0-3 and approximately 40% of the households are headed by single mothers, often in their teens. 10 Impact Northwest Healthy Start Family Support Workers and 2 Program Supervisors create a strong system of support for these families.

Impact Mentoring builds relationships between dedicated volunteer mentors and youth ages 5 to 18.  Mentors and students meet weekly and engage in activities such as arts and crafts, reading, sports, homework and community service projects. By connecting school-age youth with volunteer mentors, Impact Northwest’s 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 14-21 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, a monthly newsletter, and social and skill-building activities and events.

Impact Northwest’s Kids on the Block Awareness Program uses puppetry performances to connect with youth at-risk of academic failure and provide them with the foundation to communicate their needs and identify the values they want to live out, in their lives.

Impact Northwest manages Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN)/ Community Schools programs. SUN/Community School programs promote academic achievement and regular attendance and transform schools into community learning centers. From after school arts classes to individual tutoring services for school families. Our SUN/Community School programs are changing lives in some of the metropolitan area’s highest needs schools. For a list of schools we serve, click here.

Impact Northwest’s Social and Support Services for Educational Success (SSSES) provides supportive services to adolescents age 12-17, particularly those who are at risk of dropping out or attending alternative schools and those who have low rates of school attendance.  SSSES is designed to help 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.