BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF NORTHERN NEVADA

2018 Goals

Serve a total of 630 children.
Make 234 new matches.
Increase average match length to 35 months.

We hold ourselves accountable for each child in our program achieving results in three outcome areas:
1) Educational Success
• 90% of Littles will maintain or improve their educational expectations;
• 85% of children will maintain or improve their scholastic competence;
• 88% of children will maintain or improve their grades; and
• 80% of age-eligible Littles will completed high school.

2) Avoidance of Risky Behaviors
• 95% of youth will maintain or improve their attitudes toward risky behavior.

3) Socio-emotional Competencies
• 95% of Littles will maintain or improve their feelings of social acceptance; and
• 85% will maintain or improve their trust in their parents.

BBBSNN relies on best practices developed by Big Brothers Big Sisters in over a century of mentoring. We hold ourselves accountable for each child in our program, and the standards followed by all BBBS affiliates across the country ensure that all volunteers and children in BBBS program have the best experience possible.

Recruitment:
BBBSNN employs a full-time Volunteer Recruitment Specialist to recruit adult volunteers to serve as mentors in our program. We are committed to finding a mentor for every child who needs and wants one in their lives.

Enrollment:
BBBSNN employs two full-time Enrollment Specialist to interview, screen and train all potential volunteer mentors. These positions are key in maintaining child safety standards.

Support:
BBBSNN employs seven Match Support Specialists who ensure that our matches are successful.They monitor matches closely, providing coaching for our Bigs when needed, and ensure the matches are thriving through frequent contact with both Bigs and Littles. Regular contact with families, and for our site-based matches, agencies, helps to keep matches working towards the individual goals for the child. This position also evaluates the efficacy of our matches by administering pre- and post- match evaluations and analyzing the data gathered through these Youth Outcome Surveys.

Evaluation
Program Director oversees our mentor programs, including strategic planning, approving matches, reviewing and reporting on progress of the site-based and community-based programs and making adjustments as needed to ensure program goals are met.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada will analyze the effectiveness of our evidence-based mentoring program by conducting the Youth Outcome Survey (YOS).

YOS is a validated tool for evaluating the impact of mentoring on youth in three strategic outcome areas:

1. Educational success
2. Avoidance and reduction of risky behaviors
3. Socio-emotional competencies

The YOS tool is a survey consisting of 32 questions. It is administered before the start of a match and as matches reach one year, a post-survey is conducted. The pre- and post-test scores are compared and provide data to review the attitudinal changes taking place within each youth served.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada has been in the area for fifteen years and currently provides mentors for more than 600 children, ages 5-19 living in Sun Valley, Reno, Sparks, Cason City, Minden and Gardnerville. Partnering with families, schools and other agencies, we identify children who need early intervention to prevent falling behind in school, engaging in risky behaviors such as truancy and delinquency, and avoid early initiation of drug and alcohol use. All the children we serve live at or below the federal poverty level.

2016:
Children served: 619
Average match length: 31 months
Youth Outcome Survey responses:
1. Educational success:
• 82% of children maintained or improved their scholastic competence
• 82% of children maintained or improved their grades
• 87% of age-eligible Littles completed high school in 2016
2. Avoidance and reduction of risky behaviors
• 97% of youth maintained or improved their attitudes toward risky behavior
3. Socio-emotional competencies
• 84% maintained or improved their trust in their parents
• 95% maintained or improved their feelings of social acceptance

2018 on-time graduation rate of age-eligible Littles: 90%