About the Nonprofit
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Big Brothers Big Sisters creates and supports meaningful one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and potential of youth. Our vision is that ALL youth are able to reach their full potential.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Upstate serves children in the six counties of the Upstate South Carolina community between the ages of 6 and 18 who are considered to be “at-risk.” Most of these children live with a single parent and are low-income; in fact, about three-quarters of the children we serve live below the poverty level. Some of these children also have an incarcerated parent. With an equal number of boys and girls, about 65% of program participants are African American. These children have been told their whole lives that they cannot succeed due to their life circumstances. Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Upstate provides these mentoring services at absolutely no cost to the family.
Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring relationships are effective and evidence-based. Compared to their unmentored peers, mentored children are significantly more likely to be promoted to the next grade, learn decision-making skills, improve social behaviors, and be on track to graduate from high school. In our most recent fiscal year, 85% of the program mentees (i.e. Littles) were on track to graduate. This is an impressive number considering that the graduation rate for low-income and predominantly minority youth in the general population of Upstate South Carolina is 20 to 25% lower than the 85% graduation rate for our Littles. Academic achievement is directly related to the future prosperity of these “at-risk” children. In other words, the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring relationships change the lives of at-risk children and youth forever.
