BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF THE GREATER TWIN CITIES

BBBS’ overall goal is to provide mentoring and enrichment opportunities for local youth so they can develop into well-rounded, successful community members. Additional goals include increasing multi-cultural activities to promote respect for all cultures and to create a welcoming environment, providing high quality programming for teens to increase the longevity of their matches, offering tools to plan their career and education futures, and ensuring the safety of children and volunteers.

To meet these goals, BBBS implements the following strategies: Recruiting, screening, and training Bigs who can serve as supportive, positive role models; Recruiting children who would benefit from having an additional role model in their lives; Matching Bigs and Littles based on compatible personalities, interests, and life experiences; Providing on-going support for these matches to ensure child safety and positive development; Offering two models of mentoring – community-based and school-based – depending on the child’s needs, family involvement, and volunteers’ schedules; and, Supplementing the impact of mentoring by offering enrichment programs for matches, including ongoing match activities on diverse subjects including sports, nature, arts, academics, and cultural events, college and career exploration and preparation assistance, workforce readiness programming, and leadership opportunities.

BBBS has the capacity to provide mentoring support and enrichment activities to at least 3,000 children a year in the 7 county metro area. This support includes mentoring screening and training, ongoing child safety precautions, and enrichment activities. The BBBS staff provide ongoing individual support for these matches, leading to average match lengths of 35 months for community-based and 19 months for the site-based programs, which are well above the national averages of 27 and 16 months, respectively. Because of the high quality services, BBBS received the Expert Partners seal from the Quality Mentoring Assessment Path, developed by the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota. This award is an official recognition of BBBS’ success in positively impacting youth during their developmental years. In 2013, Philanthropedia and Minnesota Philanthropy Partners rated BBBS the third best non-profit in Minnesota in terms of impact serving at-risk youth through educational support. The agency also received the Quality Award by the Nationwide Leadership Council of BBBSA in 2013. In 2011, it received the National Criminal Justice Association’s Outstanding Criminal Justice Program Award.

As measured by the Program Outcome Evaluation (POE) survey, youth involved in BBBS demonstrate the following progress over a year: 82% improved their self-confidence, 80% improved their ability to show trust, 70% improved their relationships with adults, 70% improved their sense of the future, 70% expanded their interests and hobbies, 70% were able to make better decisions, 67% improved their academic performance, 67% improved their attitude toward school, 54% improved their relationship with their families and 43% were able to better avoid delinquency.

In addition to the noticeable changes in child behavior, the 2013 Youth Outcome Survey (YOS) results established that mentoring services in both the community- and site-based programs helped youth see their own development through the following self-reported measures: 89% of community-based and 88% of site-based Littles reliably improved or maintained their level of social acceptance; 76% of community-based and 86% of site-based Littles reliably improved or maintained their educational expectations; 76% of community-based and 77% of site-based Littles reliably improved or maintained their level of parental trust.

Furthermore, national research demonstrates that BBBS’ mentoring programs result in youth who are 75% more likely to receive a four-year college degree than youth not involved with BBBS, and active Littles were 46% less likely to use illegal drugs. In 2012, 82% of Littles matched at the beginning of their senior years graduated from high school, compared to 56% of their similarly situated peers. These results demonstrate the strong impact mentoring can have on a child’s growth.