Big Brothers Big Sisters Of Southern Nevada

BBBSN's Site Based Mentoring program works directly in schools, with school principals, counselors and teachers to enhance a child's ability to learn, interact with their peers and reduce questionable behavior and negative influences. Typically, the youth are ages six to 10, and are from low income and at-risk environments. We partner closely with eight elementary school sites within the Clark County School District. The Site Based Mentors are caring adults and high school students from the community who go through rigorous background checks and training prior to being matched. Program staff from BBBSN are continuously and actively involved in every mentoring experience. Staff provide liaison with the school, support for mentors and families. BBBSN also has site based programs at East Las Vegas Community Center during after school hours. Site meetings are scheduled Monday through Friday between 1:00 and 6:00 PM. All matches at a site meet together on the same day and time for one hour per week. We ask for a minimum of a one year commitment to the program. The Bigs become very important in the life of their Littles and consistency in a long lived relationship is critical.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America ("BBBSA") has been awarded funding from The National Football League Foundation under the NFL Inspire Change Social Justice Grant to further BBBSA's youth mentoring initiatives. The National Football League's Inspire Change program demonstrates their commitment to their communities with an emphasis on educational success, economic advancement, social justice, and healthy relationships. The NFL Foundation funding in Southern Nevada is deployed towards engaging and matching Children With Incarcerated Family Members. The research indicates that a quality mentoring relationship can reduce the likelihood that a youth will also be engaged in the justice system, unlike their parent or sibling. Additionally, children of color are disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system.

BBBSN Match Support Specialists (MSS) are responsible for program delivery, outcome measurement and evaluation activities, including gathering data from CCSD, reporting program results, and maintaining program quality. All of our MSS are required to have at least a Bachelor's degree; over 50% have advanced degrees. MSS provide case management, provide referrals and resources, advocate for foster youth at Child Family Team Meetings, work with probation and judges for youth who are involved with the juvenile justice system and provide ongoing training for mentors in both group and individual platforms. The Match Support Specialists are managed by our Chief Executive Officer who has more than 15 years of youth development experience and our Director of Programs, who has more than 15 years of youth development experience. Our Controller has a bachelors degree in business/accounting with extensive experience managing federal, state and local municipality funding as well as private contributions.