The Friends Program is a nonprofit 501 (C) (3) agency located in Concord, NH. The Friends Program was founded in 1975 and is a non-profit social service organization that recruits, trains and manages volunteers to meet community needs. Our mission is to build positive connections and solutions for at-risk youth, families, and seniors.

We serve eight NH counties and work on behalf of the state’s most vulnerable populations. The agency strives to meet its mission through the implementation of mentoring programs for at-risk youth, emergency housing for homeless families with children, an intergenerational program that creates meaningful opportunities for seniors to work with children in classrooms, and a senior volunteer program that links a volunteer's skills to otherwise unmet needs within the communities that we serve.

The focus of the organization was originally on recruiting community-based mentors to guide and encourage Concord-area youth. In 1980, the organization took on the operation of the Emergency Housing Program. Six years later, the Friends Program adopted the Foster Grandparent Program, which later expanded service to cover eight NH counties. In 2006, we launched our Retired Senior Volunteer Program.

The Friends Program helps people end the cycle of homelessness, overcome the effects of poverty and abuse, and break out of isolation and depression. We do this by connecting at-risk kids, families, and seniors in need with people who can support them as they create better lives for themselves. We carry out our mission through a one-to-one youth mentoring, an intergenerational mentoring program based in schools, a volunteer program for seniors, and a shelter for homeless families. Our unique difference is our focus on using the power of human connection to address the root causes of social problems with individualized support, tools and resources.