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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Richmond and Tri-Cities
Sheila Fitzgerald, a mentor, spends time with her "little."
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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Richmond and Tri-Cities
Maurice Gallimore, also a mentor, gets in some outdoor time with the youngster with whom he's matched.
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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Richmond and Tri-Cities
In 2014, Big Brothers Big Sisters paired 515 children across the region with mentors.
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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Richmond and Tri-Cities
About 90 percent of children who participate in the program improve their grades and classroom performance.
After only two and a half months, the chemistry is apparent between 26-year-old Jamie Malone and 13-year-old Lashonda Mosby.
Amid the cafeteria commotion, the office administrator at an electrical contracting company and the sixth-grader at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School banter playfully on a Thursday afternoon. Mosby, a member of the school’s hip-hop dance team, jokes about teaching Malone steps to a routine she is learning, but rolls her eyes when her big sister expresses confidence in her ability to master them. Undiscouraged, Malone vows to prove her wrong. All in good fun.
Once a week, the pair play board games and hula-hoops, and do homework together. They talk school, life, and, as Mosby has gained an interest, boys.
“I tell her ‘Education is important — more important than boys,’ ” Malone says, laughing.
Malone and Mosby are among 11 matches at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Richmond and Tri-Cities MLK middle school program, which launched last fall. It’s one of five programs the nonprofit runs at city schools, providing mentors to children whose parents sign them up to participate. In 2014, the organization paired 515 children across the region, ages 6 to 14, with mentors ages 18 to 72.
Matches typically cross socioeconomic lines. Most mentors are from middle- or upper-income backgrounds, and 50 percent of children in the program come from homes making less than $25,000 a year.
Mentors can meet weekly with their “littles” at a time and place designated by the organization, such as an after-school activity. In the community-based program, mentors spend a minimum of nine hours per month with their young partners on day trips and outings. The relationships that are formed provide children with a positive role model and influence. About 90 percent of children who participate improve their grades and classroom performance.
Long term, the bonds help participants set career and educational goals.
“These relationships continue well beyond enrollment in our program,” says Ann Payes, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Richmond and Tri-Cities. “The power of the relationship is so strong, and it does show that you are making a lifetime of difference.”
The nonprofit’s goal is to serve 600 children in 2015, Payes says, but the organization faces a shortfall of adult volunteers, especially men. About 1,100 children are on the nonprofit’s waiting list for a match; three-fourths of them are boys, and only a quarter of volunteers the organization works with are men. “It’s really been ongoing for the life of the agency. We have a really big supply and demand issue.”
The shortage is apparent at the MLK program, where only two of the 11 matches are male.
The process of becoming a mentor is similar to applying for a job. Applicants go through a background check and interview process. If chosen, the nonprofit provides training and support to the mentor before and during the program. All told, funding a match costs about $1,500 per year.
Once the match is made, though, it can be rewarding for both parties.
“The personalities matching is the most important thing, but so are their dreams and what their ‘bigs’ do for a living,” says Kendra Robinson, the organization’s program manager for the city. “It’s kind of like [the littles] are chasing their own dreams in the relationship.”
