Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central California

High school bigs: many rural and economically depressed communities lack an adequate pool of volunteers who have the time and/or resources to serve as a mentor. To overcome this obstacle, we offer a site based program that utilizes high school students to serve as mentors (bigs) to elementary aged children (littles). The highschool bigs program operates once each week for approximately 90 minutes on an elementary school site under the supervision of a match support specialist from bbbs of Central California. Both the high school and elementary students are referred to school administrators from among students they feel would benefit. We offered this program at 14 elementary school sites, serving a total of 560 students. Community based matches: children between ages of 6 - 18 who are facing adversity are provided one-to-one mentoring by a rigorously screened, vetted and trained adult volunteer. Matches are carefully monitored and supported by professional staff. Mentors commit to spend a minimum of 3-4 hours per week for at least one year. The average length of a match exceeds 22 months; while for some it is the beginning of a life long relationship. Our evidence-based program produces overwhelming positive effects on children by developing improved attitudes toward school, achieving higher grades and improving relationships with adults and peers. They are less likely to skip school, skip a class, use illegal drugs or alcohol or hit someone. Mentors provide emotional support to their mentees by coaching them in how to better cope and express their emotions in a healthy manner. During the current fiscal year, 107 children were served in this program. Lunch buddy/site based mentoring: adult site based mentors meet the same rigorous background checks and standards as do those participating in our community based program. The biggest difference is that they meet and spend time with their mentee (little), typically once each week for approximately one hour, at a school site or community center rather than out in the community. This is an alternative for those who wish to participate but can't make the time commitment required of the community based mentors. During the current fiscal year, we supported 2 site based matches.

Administrative support in providing mentors to at risk childred in the Central valley in California