In September 2003, the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program--under the leadership of Joe Tierney, the author of the landmark Public/Private Ventures study documenting the positive impact of the BBBS model of mentoring--and Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern Pennsylvania (BBBS SEPA) launched an exciting new initiative at the University of Pennsylvania.

We called it the "Penn Bigs" initiative. And the goal was simple. SEPA and Fox Leadership wanted to match over 100 Penn students with 100 students from West Philadelphia elementary and middle schools. It was a big goal, one that could transform our College Bigs program. Now, years later, we have far surpassed that goal-in the 2008/09 school-year more than 400 Penn students mentored children from the West Philadelphia neighborhood surrounding the Penn campus. This program is one of the largest College Bigs programs in the nation--and it continues to grow.

We welcome Bentley Systems, Inc. and the Bentley Family as sponsors of the program. Their funding means that BBBS SEPA and the Fox Leadership Program can continue to expand and match even more children and Penn students through the "Bentley Penn Bigs Program".

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