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CrossCurrents - The Buddy Program

On today's CrossCurrents – The Buddy Program.

For over 40 years, The Buddy Program has been serving the youth in the Roaring Fork Valley. Guests are David Houggy, Executive director and Heather Hicks, Director of Recruitment and the Lemonade Day City Director.

From The Buddy Program website:

For 40 years, the Buddy Program has been serving youth in the Roaring Fork Valley community. The Buddy Program runs five programs throughout the Roaring Fork Valley, including one-on-one mentoring, group/experiential mentoring, and financial literacy education. Pairs in our Community Program stay together for 4.4 years, over twice that of national mentoring programs. Program evaluations demonstrate that the Buddy Program has helped our Little Buddies in areas of self-esteem, decision making, academics and relationships with friends and family. The Buddy Program worked with 973 youth and their families in 2013, and continues to grow to meet the large need in the Roaring Fork Valley. The Buddy Program is a registered 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

In addition to providing mentoring services to youth in Aspen, the Buddy Program staff provides referral and resource information to all of the families with whom they work. Whether a family is in need of counseling or winter coats, the Buddy Program helps to ensure that their needs are met. In order to ensure every family’s’ needs are met, the Buddy Program is an active partner with the Aspen schools, Aspen Counseling Center, Aspen Youth Center, Kids First, Pitkin County Child Protection Team, FACET South (a family centered approach finding solutions) , RESPONSE, Youth Zone, the Hope Center, Aspen Community Foundation, Christ Episcopal Church (we refer families for Holiday Baskets and their tutoring programs) and Aspen Police Department. Many times, the Buddy Program’s staff is the catalyst to ensure services for a family. We find that the schools can ensure academic services, but use the Buddy Program to ensure that a child in their school has the social and emotional support as well as connections to other services in the community.

http://www.buddyprogram.org/

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