BBBS Successes

Big Brothers Big Sisters

of Elk and McKean Counties

The Guidance Center

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Successes

A Record of Success

For over 100 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has been America's preeminent national youth-service organization. Our service is based on a One-To-One relationship between an adult volunteer and a child at risk.

Volunteers serve as friends, mentors and role models, helping children (who are primarily from single-parent homes) gain greater self-confidence. "Bigs" encourage "Littles" to realize their potential and see themselves as having happy and successful futures.

Service That's Proven Effective

A recent study conducted by a respected national research firm examined the effect of Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring on youth and found that, compared to their peers, Little Brothers and Little Sisters who met with their Bigs regularly were:

	46% less likely to start using drugs and 27% less likely to start drinking;
	52% less likely to skip a day of school and 37% less likely to skip class;
	33% less likely to hit someone; and
	More trusting of their parents or guardians, less likely to lie to them, and they felt more supported and less criticized by their peers and friends.

Explanation of the POE

To measure the successes of the matches in Big Brothers Big Sisters of Elk and McKean Counties a tool called Program-Based Outcome Evaluation (POE) is used. This is a tool used nationally throughout all Big Brothers Big Sisters programs. The POE has 21 different areas identified to measure the impact of Big Brothers Big SIsters on the youth who have a Big Brother or Big Sister. Those identified areas target the child's confidence, competence, and caring. The Bigs, parents of the Littles, teachers, or case managers can fill these reports out, depending on who are the most logical and reliable sources. These reports are completed 6 months into the match, once again at 12 months, and continue to be completed annually.

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