About BBBS SEPA
Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA (BBBS SEPA) serves Delaware, Chester, and Philadelphia Counties through a simple but powerful mission: To foster Big Brother and Big Sister relationships which improve the lives of children forever. Our vision is: To take our life-changing mission to every child in the region who needs and wants a Big Brother or Big Sister.
From structured screening of prospective volunteers to ensure child safety, to careful matching of mentor and youth, to continued and professional support during the match, the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring model is designed to create strong, lasting, and supportive relationships between youth and the caring volunteers who serve as Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
Through the simple act of spending time with a young person, and being their friend, mentor, and positive role model, Big Brothers and Big Sisters have a profound positive impact on their Little Brothers and Little Sisters, and on the ability of these youth to develop into healthy, productive adults.
About BBBS Mentoring
We are committed to providing more children with Big Brothers and Big Sisters (“Bigs”) so that they can benefit from the positive impact of mentoring. Since the 2002 merger that created BBBS SEPA, we have an impressive track record of growth. In 2005, we made and supported over 2600 matches between children and volunteer mentors. While this nearly doubles the number of children we served in 2002, our goal is to serve 5000 children annually.
BBBS SEPA has two basic programs: community-based mentoring (which is the traditional model of BBBS mentoring, where Bigs and Littles meet at times and locations of their choosing) and school-based mentoring (where Bigs meet their Littles at the Little’s school during the school day or after-school). Within these programs, we have special initiatives that explicitly target children who are at greatest risk:
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Amachi -- providing Bigs to children with incarcerated parents;
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BigSTEP--reaching out to children who have exhibited patterns of truancy or delinquency; and
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VIP--our “Violence Intervention Project” which provides mentors to children who are either the perpetrators or victims of bullying and/or violence.