Join Our Team

The Program Director must exhibit perseverance and an entrepreneurial spirit in their pursuit of establishing and growing the Friends of the Children program in West Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. This position oversees the management of programming including designing, implementing, and sustaining programming, as well as research, supervising, evaluating the efforts of all professional mentors (“Friends”), and for the overall integrity of the program. The role leads in the child identification and selection process and maintenance of relationships with schools and community members.

The Program Director is a member of the senior management team, who is expected to interact constructively with members of the community, partner schools, and other key stakeholders, including potential donors and other third parties.

The HR & Operations Assistant role is vital for providing operational, administrative, and outreach support, along with logistical help for expansion efforts, at the Friends LA headquarters. This position calls for an organized, creative early-career professional with strong administrative skills, detail orientation, and experience in operational systems like Teams, SharePoint, Excel, and Microsoft Office. The candidate should excel in fast-paced environments, possess excellent communication skills, critical thinking abilities, and the capacity to make sound decisions. This role presents an opportunity to contribute to sustainability, security, and equity initiatives within the organization.

Under the direction of the Family Engagement Director, this position manages a wide range of projects and activities designed to implement an integrated multi-faceted family engagement service delivery system that is a model of excellence for Friends LA’s 2Gen Model. The Family Engagement Assistant demonstrates the ability to communicate and work with all families.

Ultimately, the FEA serves as a liaison who:

• Advises and trains caregivers in the Strengthening Families Approach & Protective Factors
• Educates Friends and program staff on how to communicate and work effectively with parents/families as equal partners/ promotes sharing of power with caregivers as decision-makers.
• Develops community collaborations and provides referrals to community-based services for families.
• Helps caregivers/families better understand the systems they interact with so they can become better advocates for their child's wellbeing.

The East Los Angeles site of Friends of the Children – Los Angeles (Friends L.A.) is looking for passionate, committed, professional mentors, who we call Friends, to support our mission to impact generational change by empowering youth who are facing the greatest obstacles through relationships with trained full-time professional mentors—12+ years—no matter what.

A Friend works intensively with eight (8) children as a positive adult role model to develop a caring, trusting and sustained relationship with each child. For each child, a Friend will set positive expectations; nurture and promote their strengths, talents and abilities; help assure physical and emotional well-being; teach life and academic skills; provide enrichment activities; and model responsible behavior. A Friend will fully document activities and participate in an ongoing evaluation process. Friends will work primarily one-on-one with their children while empowering their parents to advocate for their children through an ongoing, respectful, and strengths-based partnership. A Friend must also know, understand, honor and support the organization’s mission, vision, values, principles and policies, and be able to clearly articulate the organization’s function.

The ideal candidate is an innovative project manager with a strong connection to the communities we serve and a commitment to positively impacting the lives of children and families in East L.A. Priority will be given to candidates who reside in the area and/or have extensive experience working within the East LA community.

The Antelope Valley site of Friends of the Children – Los Angeles (Friends L.A.) is looking for passionate, committed, professional mentors, who we call Friends, to support our mission to impact generational change by empowering youth who are facing the greatest obstacles through relationships with trained full-time professional mentors—12+ years—no matter what.

A Friend works intensively with eight (8) children as a positive adult role model to develop a caring, trusting and sustained relationship with each child. For each child, a Friend will set positive expectations; nurture and promote their strengths, talents and abilities; help assure physical and emotional well-being; teach life and academic skills; provide enrichment activities; and model responsible behavior. A Friend will fully document activities and participate in an ongoing evaluation process. Friends will work primarily one-on-one with their children while empowering their parents to advocate for their children through an ongoing, respectful, and strengths-based partnership. A Friend must also know, understand, honor and support the organization’s mission, vision, values, principles and policies, and be able to clearly articulate the organization’s function.

The ideal candidate is an innovative project manager with a strong connection to the communities we serve and a commitment to positively impacting the lives of children and families in East L.A. Priority will be given to candidates who reside in the area and/or have extensive experience working within the East LA community.

Friends of the Children – Los Angeles (Friends LA) is looking for a passionate, committed, professional mentor, who we call Friends, to support our mission to impact generational change by empowering youth who are facing the greatest obstacles through relationships with trained full-time professional mentors—12+ years—no matter what. Our model is proven to break the cycle of generational poverty for children who face the most barriers by providing paid professional mentors to thousands of youth across the country.

A Friend works intensively with eight (8) children and their families as a positive adult role model to develop a caring, trusting and sustained relationship with the whole family. A Friend will set positive expectations; nurture and promote their strengths, talents and abilities; help assure physical and emotional well-being; teach life and academic skills; provide enrichment activities; and model responsible behavior. A Friend will fully document activities and participate in an ongoing evaluation process. Friends will work primarily one-on-one with their children, and link and support their families to resources as appropriate. A Friend must also know, understand, honor and support the organization’s mission, vision, values, principles and policies, and be able to clearly articulate the organization’s function.

The ideal candidate is an innovative project manager with a strong connection to the communities we serve and a commitment to positively impacting the lives of children and families in Los Angeles. Priority will be given to candidates who reside in the area and/or have extensive experience working within the Los Angeles community.