Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County and the Inland Empire, Inc.

Our program provides professionally supported one-to-one mentoring for at-risk youth in our local community. The addition of this high quality support system in a youth's life has been recognized by the World Bank, the Ford Foundation, and the Department of Education to reduce the educational and career inequity among underserved communities. Matches participate in activities such as college preparation work, writing college applications and resumes, mock interviews, and life goals explorations. Our program has also been highlighted by the CDC as a tool to mitigate the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences. Most youth in our program face challenges outside of their control and in most cases, have had traumatic experiences such as abuse, homelessness, or have an incarcerated parent. Trusting others can therefore be difficult for our clients, which makes the mentorship of a Big
Brother or Big Sister the key to success in our program. We aim to build resilience among our youth so they are more likely to graduate high school, have a postsecondary plan, and live a happy, healthy life.

We have incorporated best practices from mentoring research, youth development, new civics education, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) research, and our own experience developing programs that focus on achieving academic success. Our program is supported by our case workers and program managers who carefully curate workshops and curriculums to run college and career readiness focused programs. Our case managers (Match Support Specialists, Program Specialists), Match Engagement and Enrichment Manager, and our College and Career Specialist all provide our agency with the skills and tools necessary to implement a strong program. Effective and long-lasting matches rely on the steady, guiding hand of our Match Support and Program Specialists who check in with all groups and provide support on a monthly basis. They are assigned to each match and work closely with Bigs, Littles, and their parents/guardians to provide training, guidance, and resources to ensure a successful and beneficial mentorship. Our Match Engagement and Enrichment Manager is also a great asset to our program. He oversees case management and focuses on supporting and sustaining mentorship relationships, mentor enrichment through workshops and events hosted by our agency, community partnerships, and resource identification.

We are experts at creating and supporting the relationships that help our youth develop the characteristics needed for academic, social, and economic success. Our Executive Leadership Team is innovative, experienced and dedicated to transforming the lives of the youth and the communities we serve. Our volunteer base is over 2,500 strong. BBBSOCIE staff provide monthly case management support for mentees, mentors and families, as well as facilitate learning sessions for student mentees. Our Match Support Specialists and Program Specialists participate in over 40 hours of training on courses including but not limited to: coaching; justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion; standards of practice; and child safety. Our staff, board of directors, volunteers, donors and partners, help uplift our youth. Mentorship, and the additional wraparound support we provide via our Family Support Specialist, are meant to be part of a wider set of community and education services.

Our driving force is to create connections between mentors and mentees that ignite the potential in the youth that we serve, resulting in stronger, more successful and resilient communities. Through incorporating cutting edge Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), BBBSOCIE has taught mentors how to guide their mentees on self awareness, self management, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and social awareness key to developing 21st century workforce skills. Big Brothers Big Sisters offers five program models that are accountable for successfully guiding youth in achieving the following among other goals: 1) higher aspirations, greater confidence, and better relationships, 2) avoidance of risky behaviors, such as alcohol and drug use, and 3) educational success, improved grades.

BBBSOCIE measures success through our Youth Outcome Survey (YOS) or Child Outcome Survey (COS), which starts with a pre-assessment for our mentees. This gauges knowledge and attitude on education, risk-taking behavior, and socio-emotional wellness. Mentees (Littles) participate in follow-up assessments every twelve months for the duration of their Match. The survey provides a good measure of the impact that mentoring has on a child’s life and focuses on nine criteria supported by research to positively improve through one-to-one mentorship: Social acceptance, scholastic competency, education expectations, grades, school attendance, attitude to risk behavior, parental relationships, other adult relationships, and juvenile justice systems involvement. Our areas of focus are child safety, flagging trauma and mental risk factors, and college/career readiness. Responses are tracked and updated on our Matchforce Database.

In 2022, our youth self-reported the following:
*84% experienced reduced depressive symptoms
*85% had improved academic performance
*89% had seen socio-emotional growth
*94% were more likely to graduate (both high school and college)
*93 were less likely to engage in risky behaviors