November 28, 2012 – A small group of teen and pre-teen boys and their mentors joined Oscar Award Winning Actor Jamie Foxx at a private party at his Los Angeles-area home to celebrate the actor’s newest and biggest role ever — national spokesperson for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
The nation’s largest and most effective non-profit youth mentoring organization, Big Brothers Big Sisters carefully pairs screened adult volunteers with youth facing adversity in safe, professionally supported one-to-one long-term mentoring matches. The organization provides mentors, mentees and parents ongoing professional support and guidance to keep the mentoring matches going strong as long as possible. Children in the program are those of single, low-income and incarcerated parents or sons and daughters of military personnel. Studies find when enrolled in the program, they are more likely than their peers to improve in school and their behavior and their self-esteem.
As national spokesperson, Foxx will represent the organization at national and local Big Brothers Big Sisters events and work with other influencers and celebrities to help raise needed funding so that the organization can grow to serve more children. He will also promote the organization in Public Service Announcements and special appearances. More than 34,000 children across the U.S., primarily boys of color, are on Big Brothers Big Sisters “waiting to be matched” lists. The organization needs more volunteer mentors, particularly men of color, and additional financial support for sufficient staffing to match the kids in safe, long-term mentoring matches that yield the outcomes unique to Big Brothers Big Sisters.
About Big Brothers Big Sisters
Big Brothers Big Sisters, the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, holds itself accountable for children in its program to achieve measurable outcomes, such as educational success; avoidance of risky behaviors; and higher aspirations, greater confidence and better relationships. Partnering with parents/guardians, schools, corporations and others in the community, Big Brothers Big Sisters carefully pairs children (“Littles”) with screened volunteer mentors (“Bigs”) and monitors and supports these one-to-one mentoring matches throughout their course. The first-ever Big Brothers Big Sisters Youth Outcomes Summary, released in 2012, substantiates that its mentoring programs have proven, positive academic, socio-emotional and behavioral outcomes for youth, areas linked to high school graduation, avoidance of juvenile delinquency and college or job readiness.
Big Brothers Big Sisters provides children facing adversity, often those of single or low-income households or families where a parent is incarcerated or serving in the military, with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one mentoring relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. This mission has been the cornerstone of the organization’s 100-year history. With about 350 agencies across the country, Big Brothers Big Sisters serves nearly 630,000 children, volunteers and families. Learn how you can positively impact a child’s life, donate or volunteer at BigBrothersBigSisters.org.
Trymaine Lee
Ray Davis
Osa Odighizuwa
