September Edition 2004 - New York Nonprofit Press

12 New York Nonprofit Press www.nynp.biz September 2004
AGENCY OF THE MONTH
Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC
A Hundred Years Young
“Mentoring has become one of the
‘in’ buzzwords in social services,” says
Allan Luks, Executive Director of Big
Brothers/Big Sisters of New York City
(BBBS). “Bush talked about mentoring
in his State of the Union address. Clinton
had a giant meeting on mentoring
when he was president. Right now, we
are ‘in’, but who knows for how long.”
That is OK. BBBS has been involved
with mentoring since before it was ‘in’.
In fact, BBBS established the movement
100 years ago when its founder, Ernest
K. Coulter, a clerk in New York Children's
Court, called upon a local men’s
club to work with the youngsters he
saw every day. Over the intervening
century, Big Brothers/Big Sisters has
become synonymous with mentoring –
a brand name like Coca Cola or Xerox
which effectively defined this specific
form of youth development program.
Today, BBBS directly connects 3,000
children from low income, single parent
homes with carefully-screened adult
companions. It also serves as a vanguard
for research and advocacy on
mentoring issues as well as providing
technical assistance and training for
other mentoring programs. “We like to
think of ourselves as a ‘training hospital’,”
says Luks.
The Big Brother/Big Sister service
model is remarkably straight forward.
“Bigs” commit to spend several hours
with their Little Brothers or Sisters at
least twice a month for a minimum of
one year. The pairs go to ball games and
museums, go bowling, spend time at
the park, and talk. In the process, the
Bigs offer a simple, yet powerful combination
of friendship, guidance, support.
Every relationship is monitored and
supported by a social worker.
This relatively straightforward program
also has proven to be surprisingly
successful. An independent and randomized
1992 national study of the Big
Brother/Big Sister movement found
that it reduced first time drug use by 46
percent, cut school absenteeism by 52
percent, and lowered violent behavior
by 33 percent. And, this sample population
was no collection of cream puffs.
Over 80 percent of the kids came from
impoverished families, and almost all
were being raised by a single parent.
Approximately 40 percent were from
homes with a history of drug or alcohol
abuse and nearly 30 percent came from
families with a record of domestic violence.
In fact, the simpler the form of the
relationship, the more valuable is the
experience. Another long term study
found that those “Bigs” who merely offered
friendship and support -- rather
than those trying to “straighten kids
out” -- were far more likely to gain the
trust necessary to create a positive influence.
For most of its hundred year history,
BBBS has offered its “traditional”
program. Parents, typically low-income
single moms or dads, learned
about Big Brothers/Big Sisters through
TV, subway ads or roadside billboards.
The parents call and then come in to enroll
their kids.
Volunteers learn about the program
the same way – through a broad-based
advertising campaign as well as word
of mouth from other volunteers. They
attend general orientation meetings
which are held regularly and, if still interested,
go through an in-depth interview
with a BBBS social worker. “It
takes about an hour and a half,” says
Vidhya R. Kelly, M.S.W., Director of
BBBS’ Borough and Special Priority
Programs. “It is a full psycho-social.
We ask the volunteers everything about
their background, their relationship history,
their academic history, their family
history, how they grew up, their occupation,
what they do.”
Volunteers who make it through
the interview must then provide references.
“We ask for three -- at least one
from an academic advisor or work supervisor,”
says Kelly. “We get a national
background check. Then we check
the sex offender list. It is expensive at
the front end.”
Roughly 60% of those who come in
for the orientation go on to the interview,
says Luks. Then about 60% of
those will go on to be accepted. It leaves
us about 36% who go on to become Big
Brothers or Big Sisters. Most of the falloff
results from self selection on the part
of volunteers.
“Usually it is not our rejection,”
says Luks. “They will drop out once
they learn about the level of commitment.
It is four hours every other week.
In a terrible economy when people are
worried about losing their jobs or
falling behind, that is real.
“The biggest thing you worry about
is whether the man or woman is going
to continue the relationship,” he continues.
“These kids all have problems. The
last thing you want is for the Big Brother
or Big Sister to walk away two
months later.”
In fact, while BBBS asks volunteers
and kids for a one year commitment,
the average match currently lasts two
years, six months. “We have alumni
networks where matches have gone on
for 25 and 35 years and they still come
back to different events,” says Kelly.
The screening also is designed to
guard against any risk to the child.
“You are always worried about a pedophile,”
says Luks, who maintains
that BBBS has not experienced any
abuse cases during its 100 year history.
The pairing of Bigs and Littles is
based on a variety of factors and BBBS
social workers, typically MSWs, supervise
the initial meetings when potential
matches are broached to the parents,
the Bigs and the Littles. All parties have
to agree and a Mentoring Agreement
spells out the requirements and responsibilities
of the program. Social Workers
offer lots of up front support to help the
new relationship take root and provide
ongoing oversight throughout the life
of the match. “For the first several
Allan Luks, Executive Director, Big Brothers/Big
Sisters of New York City
months there is involvement by the social
worker on a weekly basis,” says
Luks. “They call the volunteer, call the
kid, call the mother. Then, they may go
to monthly contacts.”
All volunteers take a mandatory
five hour training program on mentoring
skills, and BBBS offers lots of other
events and services to help support volunteers,
kids and parents.
“There are agency events where all
the matches come together,” says Kelly.
“We just had our Annual Picnic with
1,300 people in Central Park. It is a time
to meet other matches so the Bigs don’t
feel all alone and the kids who have
been isolated can see that there are other
kids doing this -- that it’s OK and it’s
cool. We offer events like that all
throughout the year. We also do kids
events separately from the Bigs where
the social worker will take the kids out
by themselves and do things so they
can make connections with other kids
in program.”
BBBS arranges many group trips,
helps volunteers identify inexpensive
and appropriate activities and even
runs groups for parents.
Luks joined BBBS 15 years ago and
has been building a whole new tradition
of innovative programming ever