Quick Facts
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska partners with actively involved community members to match caring adults with children, both of whom benefit from our one-to-one mentoring programs.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska is a United Way member agency and an affiliate of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

Our History
The national Big Brothers Big Sisters movement began in New York City in 1904 with the words of Ernest Coulter, a clerk in the New York City Children's Court.  Mr. Coulter, in addressing a group of business leaders regarding deliquent boys, said, "These boys' only guilt is that they have been deprived of a basic childhood right...the right to a father's love, understanding and example.  It is a right to which they and others like them may never receive unless men like you give it to them."

So impressed were the men's club members by Coulter's words that they volunteered their services and became the first "Big Brothers."  Today there are nearly 500 independent Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies across the country. 

Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies throughout Alaska have been matching children for more than 27 years with extraordinary success.  On August 1st, 2007 regional agencies across Alaska merged to form Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska.  The purpose and intent of this merger was to serve the children in our communities more effectively and to collectively serve more children than we would serve individually.

Who We Serve
The mentors (called Bigs), children (called Littles), and families we serve come from all walks of life.  What Littles have in common is a desire to have a caring adult other than their parent or guardian in their lives.  What Bigs have in common is a willingness to share fun, little moments that have a big impact on a young person's life.  Big Brothers Big Sisters matches these children and adults, supports their relationship, and strives to present them with opportunities to learn, grow, and explore the world together.

How We Do It
We offer two types of programs: community-based and site-based.

Volunteers in our community-based program spend time with their Little three to four times a month, visiting museums, playing sports, watching movies, or just spending time  together.

Volunteers in our site-based program have three program options.  The School-Based option is for adults choosing to meet their Little on the campus of the child's school once a week for an hour.  Similarly, the High School Big option is for high school students aged 15 and up who choose to mentor a child for one hour a week, on the campus of the child's school.

Click here to view complete Program Requirements.

How It's Funded
We deliver our services with support from United Way, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, corporate sponsors, individual donors, and foundations.  A large portion of our funding also comes from events such as the Helping Hands Breakfast and from our Pick-up Service.

Our Future
We're on track to serve at least 3,000 kids by 2010.  We've set aggressive goals for the next three years to coincide with the target 1 Million Matches by 2010 set by Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.  Our goals include matching more young people with mentors each year, increasing the number of schools we serve, and reducing the cost of our service delivery to serve more children with less money.