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Senator Escamilla backs TANF funding for long‑term mentorship program for high‑need children
Summary
Friends of the Children Utah requested TANF funding to maintain and expand long‑term professional mentoring that pairs paid, full‑time mentors with high‑need children from kindergarten to high school; presenters cited 32 years of longitudinal national data and local outcomes to justify expansion.
Senator Escamilla and Kelsey Lewis, executive director of Friends of the Children Utah, asked the subcommittee to continue and expand TANF funding for long‑term professional mentorship services that start in kindergarten and continue through high‑school graduation.
Lewis described the program model: paid, full‑time professional mentors who each serve a cohort (about eight children) and spend multiple hours weekly in sustained, trauma‑informed engagement. She said the national organization has 32 years of longitudinal data and that the Utah chapter has operated since 2020, currently serving nearly 300 people with 62 children actively paired with mentors. Lewis cited program outcomes presented to the committee: "83 percent of our children, when paired with a professional mentor, go on to graduate from high school," and other data points linking mentoring to reduced juvenile‑justice involvement and higher post‑secondary participation.
Senator Musselman and other members praised the long‑term outcome focus and asked about geographic reach and scalability. Lewis said the program currently covers Salt Lake Valley with extensions into Davis, Utah and Tooele counties and argued the model has been scaled successfully in other states. Committee members expressed support given potential juvenile justice and fiscal benefits tied to prevention.
No appropriation vote was taken in the hearing; the RFA will be reviewed in appropriation proceedings.
