Big Brothers Big Sisters Of Greater Los Angeles Inc

School based mentoring: from july 2023 to june 2024, bbbsla served an estimated 103 children and youth in the school based mentoring program. Through this program, and in partnership with schools across los angeles county, bbbsla provided weekly one-hour mentoring sessions to elementary students in grades 2-5 by pairing them with professionally screened adult mentors in the school setting. An additional component of our school-based mentoring program is the high school bigs program, a unique initiative where high school students volunteer as mentors for elementary students. These one-hour weekly sessions run throughout the school year, with all mentoring activities guided by on-site bbbsla staff using a staff-curated, evidence-based curriculum. This year, we operated one active school-based program with adult mentors at 20th street elementary school, and four active high school bigs programs at mckinley, la verne heights, grace miller, and tracy elementary schools. Further expanding our impact, bbbsla partnered with the city of long beach to introduce mentorship programming for middle school students. In this initiative, middle school students are matched with city employees who serve as mentors. We operated three active middle school programs at lindbergh, franklin, and stephens middle schools.

Workplace mentoring: from july 2023 to june 2024, bbbsla served an estimated 73 high-school aged youth in the workplace mentoring program. During this period, bbbsla successfully delivered approximately 8 months of the workplace mentoring program across 5 program sites, providing an estimated 80 hours of impactful mentoring sessions. In partnership with los angeles county schools and corporations, bbbsla's program connects high school students from under-resourced schools with employees from partnering corporations. Twice a month, students visit workplace sites for one-hour sessions led by bbbsla staff. Each student is matched with an employee mentor for the duration of the school year. These sessions combine group learning activities guided by a staff-curated, evidence-based curriculum with personalized one-on-one mentoring, fostering meaningful relationships and impactful learning experiences.

Other accomplishments: bbbsla supported youth through two additional one-to-one mentoring programs: 1) the college pac (preparation, access, and completion) program, and 2) the women in entertainment mentoring program. Furthermore, graduating bbbsla youth are eligible to apply for scholarships and academic enrichment grants to help them pursue higher education at the college or university of their choice, empowering them to achieve their academic and career aspirations.