Big Hearts Needed.
No Experience Necessary.
Think back to when you were a kid. Who was the person, other than a parent, who brought a little magic into your life, just by being there? By becoming a Big Brother or Big Sister, you can be that person in the life of a child. And you will build treasured memories through a friendship that will change your life, and a child's, forever.
Discover spontaneous, small moments of shared fun, creating BIG memories that last a lifetime.
Being a Big is something anyone can do — the only requirements are a
willingness to be a friend, to have fun, and to see the world (and yourself)
through the eyes of a young person. Most Bigs are adults of any age, but we also
have programs for high school and college students.
As a Big, you and your Little will do everyday activities like playing sports,
seeing a movie, cooking, going over schoolwork, visiting a museum, washing the
car, taking a walk, volunteering in their community, or just hanging out. And as
in any friendship, it is the spontaneous, small moments of shared fun or discovery
that you will remember forever. That is the magic a Big brings to the life of a
child-and that a Little brings to the life of a Big.
Our Volunteers Are…
- From all walks of life: Doctors, mechanics, architects, house painters, lawyers, students, teachers and more
- Anywhere from 18 to 80 years old!
- Single, married, divorced, or widowed
- Thoroughly screened by our professional staff through:
- A criminal background check and driving record check
- A thorough, one-to-one interview with a professional staff
- Three personal and professional reference checks
Additionally, in our community program, no volunteer is ever matched with a child without the review and approval of the child's parent or guardian.
Black Men's Advisory Council
Nationwide, women volunteer to mentor children three times as often as men, and this trend is also true in Miami Dade. However, of our 500+ children waiting to be paired with a qualified, screened, trained mentor, approximately 70% are black male youth. While most families are open to a mentor of a different ethnicity or gender, most of these youth come from single parent households headed by a woman (mother or grandmother). As they are already lacking a male role model, it would be most beneficial to be able to pair them with a male mentor.
In response to this critical gap in services faced by black youth in Miami-Dade County, several BBBS board members — Alex Fraser, Rick Adams, Courtney Williams, Martin Burkett, and Mr. Gale S. Nelson, Vice-President of Programs — established The Big Brothers Big Sisters' Black Men's Advisory Council (BMAC) in 2006.
Our BMAC initiative has been developed on the basis of having currently enrolled black male mentors invite friends and colleagues to intimate receptions and events, where they will learn of the critical need for black male mentors in our community. By making this personal connection, we have been quite successful in enrolling new mentors. We are committed to closing the gap that exists between the percentage of black men involved in mentoring compared to the percentage of incarcerated black men and young boys.
