4C Coalition

The Clergy Community For Children Youth Coalition Vision is "A Voice in Shaping Strong Communities" Our MISSION is Mentoring and Support Services for Black and Brown youth. Our VALUES include Leadership : The core foundation upon which we exist. Clergy support is paramount in providing the necessary grounding and guidance in our much needed daily work. Community Support: Young people represent everything we strive to influence. The encouragement and support we provide in addition to the critical mentoring and training services  make the measurable difference. Youth Development: Ensuring long-term life skills growth and independent strength are  tangible investments in our youths future. OUR STORY We are a Community based non profit organization committed to providing the very best mentoring support to youth in King County  enabling them to live and work at the highest potential

THE 4C COALITION HISTORY

The 4C Coalition was founded in 1999. We initiated a campaign called "Operation Uplift". The purpose of Operation Uplift was to create and design a recruitment campaign to increase and expand opportunities for mentoring. The campaign for Operation Uplift was a collaboration between several agencies including staff people from Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration  (JRA), Big Brothers and Big Sisters of King County and Juvenile Court's  Joy Initiative. The programs worked together to focus on recruiting mentors, especially black male mentors, to work with the devastating  number of black youth in need of mentoring support. It was decided by Operation Uplift organizers that to have an impact on the need for mentors, an atmosphere had to be created that would inform and inspire  the faith communities and larger community . Out of Operation Uplift the 4C Coalition was born.

SEATTLE CARES MENTORING MOVEMENT

In March 2008, the 4C Coalition helped launch  Seattle CARES Mentoring Movement, an affiliate of a National Mentoring Movement founded and spearheaded by Susan L. Taylor, editor emeritus of Essence Magazine. Seattle Cares is one of over 50 cities across the country launched to recruit black and brown volunteer mentors to help young people succeed in school and in life. As the lead agency for this campaign, the 4C Coalition partnered with local agencies  including, Washington State Mentors, CASA, Casey Family , The Links Inc., Seattle Urban League, Department of Social and Health Services, and King County Juvenile Courts . 

The 4C Coalition is a 501(c)(3) agency founded specifically to engage and meet an urgent need and to provide youth with a caring adult mentor to help them succeed. Participating youth are matched with carefully trained volunteers who provide support, friendship, encouragement and advice. We want to make sure these youth graduate from high school—avoiding gangs, violence, addiction and prison — and then go to college, find meaningful employment and lead productive lives. The agency headquarters  is located in Seattle's Central District . The 4C Coalition is seeking volunteers who feel passionately about changing young lives for the better. If you have time to assist us – in the office or at events – or would like to raise community awareness about our services, we would love to talk to you.

Volunteers Commitment 

Volunteers must be 21 and older. Attend a 1 hour orientation and a 3 -hour training designed to give the volunteers information about the program and the youth. A scripted training has been developed to insure that mentors are trained uniformly. Volunteers consent to a Washington State Patrol  background check. Make a one (1) year commitment to a youth.  Meet or make weekly contact virtually or in person with his/her assigned youth. Contact 4C Mentor Program staff to check-in regularly to talk about issues gain support and insights about their individual youth and experiences. 

One to One Mentoring 

Our mentoring services for youth ages 12 -17 include one to one, group mentoring and tutoring. Youth who participate in our one-on-one mentoring program are matched with same-gender adults who share their hard-earned wisdom and engage with young people from a place of genuine interest and respect. Many of our mentors have been “there” and can provide the kind of insights that are so critical for today’s youth.

Group Mentoring 

Group mentoring helps us address the ongoing shortage of adult mentors —an unavoidable result of our firm and necessary policy that one-one-one mentoring be gender-matched. Our mentors are carefully trained to provide our youth with much-needed advice, friendship and encouragement. Because we often have more youth awaiting mentors than we have mentors available, the group approach allows us to serve more young people in a caring, supportive and non-judgmental environment. Group Mentoring is provided in a Mentoring Circle. Mentoring Circles  are led by trained facilitators, paid and unpaid mentors  that offer consistency and safe places for sharing, understanding, and resolution. The model is based in restorative justice and offers young people with methods to help manage life's stressors, as well as identify and deconstruct emotional blocks that lead to self-wounding choices. Not only does the circle  undergird the mentors, it provides them with effective strategies and coping mechanisms to pass onto the youth they support. The  mentoring circles are culturally responsive settings  where shared language, customs, spiritual beliefs, histories and humor facilitates easy communication and trust.

Tutoring  

Tutoring is a one-on-one relationship between a tutor and student, either in-person or in a virtual setting. Students receive a personalized level of engagement, interaction and support that is difficult to come by in a daily classroom setting. A structured routine helps the student build a relationship with the tutor, based on honesty and trust. 

Below are some photos from the 4C Coalitions