Big Brother Big Sister (BBBS)

1. Big Brother Big Sister(BBBS) By: Daisy Garcia, Ashley Williams

2. History • Started in 1904 by Ernest Coulter who was a New York City court clerk who was seeing more and more boys and girls come through his court house and he recognized that caring adults could help these kids stay out of trouble. He started looking for volunteers which started the beginning of Big Brother events. • At around the same time, the members of a group called Ladies of Charity were befriending girls who had come through the New York Children’s Court. That group would later become Catholic Big Sisters • Both groups continued to work independently until 1977 • More than 100 years later, Big Brothers Big Sisters remains true to our founders’ vision of bringing caring role models into the lives of children. And, today, Big Brothers Big Sisters currently operates in all 50 states and in 12 countries around the world.

3. The Mission • Start Something of A child Today • For more than 100 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life. • Vision: all children achieve success in life. • Mission: provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. • Accountability: by partnering with parents/guardians, volunteers and others in the community we are accountable for each child in our program achieving: • Higher aspirations, greater confidence, and better relationships • Avoidance of risky behaviors • Educational success

4. Statistics • Public/Private Ventures, an independent Philadelphia-based national research organization, looked at over 950 boys and girls from eight Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies across the country selected for their large size and geographic diversity. This study, conducted in 1994 and 1995, is widely considered to be foundational to the mentoring field in general and to Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based program in particular. • Researchers found that after 18 months of spending time with their Bigs, the Little Brothers and Little Sisters, compared to those children not in our program, were: • 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs • 27% less likely to begin using alcohol • 52% less likely to skip school • 37% less likely to skip a class • 33% less likely to hit someone • They also found that the Littles were more confident of their performance in schoolwork and getting along better with their families.

5. The Process • Littles are chosen after a meeting that is conducted with them and their parents, and they are looked at to see if they are at risk in becoming a delinquent. • Bigs have a much more strenuous process, they have to fill out the application, be interviewed, go through a back ground check, not everyone who applies can be a big brother or big sister. • You don’t have to just volunteer you can show your support by donating money on anything that you feel will be helpful.

6. Who we Interviewed? • Ara Arzumanian- Vice President of Mentoring Program. • He himself was a troubled youth, when he was in high school but the guidance of one person showed him that he could be better in life. • Be involved with children wasn’t his first stop on finding the career for him he got is B.A. in literature and became a teacher but he soon realized it wasn’t for him.

7. Start Something • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ylsjs5sKQ8

8. Works Cited • http://www.bbbs.org/site/c.9iILI3NGKhK6F/b.5961035/k.A153/Big_impact8212proven_results.htm • Interview with Ara Arzumanian