Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island (BBBSRI) is the largest youth mentoring organization in Rhode Island. The Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) oversee two 501(c)3 organizations with a shared mission:

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island — a mentoring organization for youth in the state; and
• Big Sisters Fund (aka the Donation Center) — a social enterprise that collects donations of used clothing and household goods for resale as a means of generating funds to support the mentoring program expenses. Annually, the Donation Center keeps over 3-5 million pounds of cloth from entering Rhode Island landfills.

Collectively, both organizations are referred to as BBBSRI and both share a vision that all youth achieve their full potential.

Our belief is that every child has limitless potential and our responsibility to our youth is to help stand in the way of and overcome potential barriers that suppress potential. BBBSRI considers those who stand up for mentoring and make investments in our state’s future to be “Defenders of Potential”. BBBSRI serves youth in Rhode Island ages 7-18 who are considered youth in need of additional positive adult reinforcement and support. In the recent past, our program sought to provide mentoring refuge only for youth considered at-risk. As we've continued to develop our program we found that students despite general risk factors were in need of additional mentoring and the value it carries. As such, we've expanded our outreach to all youth in need of mentoring opportunities despite prominent risk factors. Our Mentoring Program team works closely with the Match and the families specifically to ensure that additional service or needs are/aren’t necessary for the family units continued stability.

BBBSRI operates two primary program mentoring models:

1) Community-Based Mentoring—One to one mentor/mentee relationships. We request a minimum of an 18-month commitment with “Matches”—pairing at-risk youth between the ages of 7 and 15 (“Littles”), in long-term, one-to-one relationships with adult volunteer mentors (who are at least 19 years old—called “Bigs”). ‘Littles’ and ‘Bigs’ are paired based on personality, common interests, the child’s needs and the volunteer’s strengths meeting 6-8 hours per month. Match meetings take place in the community. Our staff provides match support to these pairs by checking in with the mentor, mentee and family consistently. Staff monitor the relationship, answer questions, help troubleshoot challenges, and work with outside agencies on referrals when necessary.

2) Site-Based Mentoring—One to one mentor/mentee relationships. With this program we also request a minimum of an 18-month commitment. Matches meet weekly, or bi-weekly, for a minimum of one hour each session. Meetings take place at a specific, supervised site on a consistent day and time.

At BBBSRI, we pride ourselves on having manageable caseloads for our Match Support team so that they can provide quality support and supervision of relationships. Our Match Support Specialists keep a caseload between 55-65 matches. This can fluctuate a bit depending on quarterly vs monthly contacts. In addition to checking in on the match, child safety, providing coach and assisting in problem solving, our match support specialist provide wrap around services for the entire family. Our team is trained in motivational interviewing and relationship building to ensure that families are comfortable speaking with them and sharing when they are in need. At BBBSRI we know that our Littles are not able to focus on achieving their goals and connecting with their mentor when the family unit is struggling. When possible, our team takes the time to make referrals to our own Family Empowerment Investment Fund along with other organizations that can assist with food, heating, housing and mental health services.

In keeping our caseloads low, we are also supporting our team’s ability to maintain self-care and to prevent compassion fatigue and/or work place burnout. We understand the need for staff to be able to decompress and reflect on difficult conversations that they are having with families about the hardships they are going through. By keeping caseloads low we maintain a high staff retention rate which in return results in long lasting matches which create positive impacts on the youth we serve.

2026 Strategic Plan will be released in 2023.