Partnerships
During Becky Cooper's tenure as CEO, Friends for Youth, Inc. was a valuable partner in the development of mentoring training on best practices and safety. Under Becky's leadership, national mentoring researcher Dr. Jean Rhodes and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo called Friends for Youth "the gold standard in the mentoring field." Becky's colleagues at Friends for Youth made valuable contributions to the mentoring field, and, in particular, to the development of Becky's long-time SAFE work.
18 state partnerships affiliated with MENTOR took part in a Certified Training process which included comprehensive training, webinars, and ongoing support to provide SAFE awareness in their various regional communities. Sgt. Steve McEwan provided training on profiles of child predators, sharing case studies from his years in the San Jose Police Department's Child Exploitation Unit. Becky Cooper followed up with how various mentor screening steps can uncover Red Flags and potential predatory behavior.​
Michigan State University and its surrounding community has been impacted by major child
predator cases. This community prioritizes the safety of children and youth, and so Michigan State University Extension responded by partnering with SAFE to train additional instructors to conduct more courses that would help youth service staff identify signs of concern and know how to address difficult situations before they affect the youth that they serve and are committed to protect.
