FORT HALL — Friends of the Children-Eastern Idaho is set to bring its professional mentoring model to Fort Hall and will hold a ribbon cutting at its new club house next week.

The ribbon cutting will be held at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1 at 1415 B Avenue, according to a news release from Friends of the Children. Community members are encouraged to come to the event and learn more about the program.

“This Clubhouse represents much more than a new space,” Gina Judd, executive director of Friends of the Children-Eastern Idaho, said in the news release. “It represents a long-term commitment to children and families in Fort Hall and a partnership that has been built with the community. We are grateful to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, our community partners and the families who have trusted us to walk alongside their children for the years ahead.”

Friends of the Children is a mentorship program that employs full-time, salaried mentors called Friends who are assigned to work one-on-one with a child. These children are as young as age 4 and they stay in the program through high school graduation.

These Friends help the children identify their strengths, interests and goals while helping them develop skills and seek opportunities. Friends can also form relationships with caregivers and schools to better support the children.

Friends of the Children-Eastern Idaho started in American Falls back in 2024 with its first 16 children. Fort Hall is its first expansion into another community in East Idaho.

The model is in practice throughout the country and has produced strong outcomes. About 90 percent of children in the program earn a high school diploma or equivalent when half of their parents didn’t graduate from high school. Additionally, 96 percent of these students stay out of the juvenile justice system, 60 percent have had a parent impacted by the criminal justice system and 92 percent of these students go to post-secondary education, the military or workforce after completing the program.

According to a Social Return on Investment analysis conducted by members of the Harvard Business School Association of Oregon, there was nearly a $971,000 in lifetime social benefit for each student who completed the program. This resulted from increased educational attainment and a decrease in costs associated with justice system involvement, teen parenting and healthcare.

The program could also have a positive impact on future generations. The researchers at the Harvard Business School Association of Oregon also found that the estimated social return was about $28.60 for every $1 invested in the program.