Program Results in a Challenging Economy

Despite economic challenges, BBBSBA’s commitment to providing high-quality services has never been stronger.  As of August 2009, the overall length of matches made by our agency has increased by 40% – a remarkable achievement that attests to the exceptional dedication of our volunteer Bigs and the skilled resources of our staff.  The effect of these longer matches is significant; independent studies show that the longer a match lasts, the stronger and more positive impacts for the child. Nothing is more important than this outcome; it’s the core mission of our program!

Our Challenge: Economic conditions have created an unintended downside to longer matches; our staff is currently operating at maximum capacity for making/supporting matches, and budget limitations have caused us to delay hiring any additional staff. Therefore we often need to wait until a number of matches close before making new ones.  So as matches are lasting longer, fewer new children may get a Big Brother or Big Sister each month.  Although our ultimate goal is to keep matches together as long as possible, unless we can increase our agency’s matching capacity, hundreds of children on our waiting list may wait longer than ever to get the special adult mentor they need.

We encourage our friends and volunteers to help us spread the word: Supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters is a sound investment with a proven return!