SPEAKER (Female,
Australian): Welcome to our Big Brothers Big Sisters orientation session.
I’m always amazed by how many people are motivated to make a difference in the
lives of youth. As an official representative of Big Brothers Big Sisters of
Australia, I’m honoured to have the opportunity to speak with you about the
amazing work that our organisation’s been doing for the past ten years in
almost every major city in the country.
PARTICIPANT (Male,
Australian): Pardon me,
but I thought that Big Brothers Big Sisters was founded in the early 1900s.
SPEAKER: Well you’re right about that. But you’re talking
about Big Brothers Big Sisters New York City, in America. That was the first of
what’s now become an international movement. Um, the New York City group was
formed in 1904 when a man named
Ernest Coulter, a court clerk, noticed how many young boys were coming through
the courtroom. He rallied volunteers to help steer the lads in the right
direction. At first, the focus was only on young boys, so they called the
movement Big Brothers. Big Sisters wasn’t founded until 1970, and the groups
worked independently until, uh, around 1977 I think. That’s right about when
they joined forces to become Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
PARTICIPANT: Ah, all right. That makes more sense.
SPEAKER: And, and Australia joined the party in 2002. Now,
as I’ve already mentioned, the founding idea of the organisation was to pair
adult mentors up with struggling young people. Most of these youth were in
quite dire situations, with dysfunctional home lives and surrounded by poverty
and crime. Coulter’s thought was that if these kids just had someone to support
them and keep them on track, they might not end up falling into negative
behaviours that would severely impact the rest of their lives. And he was
right. Since its beginnings, Big Brothers Big Sisters has offered support
around 270,000 kids across the world. Thirteen countries now have their own
version of the organisation.
PARTICIPANT: I get the general concept, but I guess I’m not so
clear on what exactly the program offers.
SPEAKER: Good question. First of all, there’s the standard
mentorship program. That matches adult volunteers with kids who are in need of
guidance and support. The kids are identified by the local authorities, a
concerned community member, a caregiver, or even a teacher. They call us and we
have them meet an adult of the same gender from our volunteer roster. If, uh, they get along, then we go on to schedule weekly visits of about three hours each.
Our staff member oversees the mentorship, and is available for advice or to
resolve conflicts.
PARTICIPANT: How old are the kids that participate in that
program, usually?
SPEAKER: Anywhere from about, oh, 10 to 17. I’d say most of
the youth we work with are in their teenage years…13 to 17.
PARTICIPANT: Mmm. I see.
SPEAKER: We also have a new program that we’re really
excited about. It’s called the In-School Mentorship Program. As the name
suggests, mentors will actually be going to the schools to help out young
students who are not doing well with their studies. Well, it’s not like mentors
will sit in the classrooms or anything, but they’ll get to meet with the
students in a private area so as not to, you know, embarrass them or anything.
Um, but because the mentors will be at a public school, there are more
restrictions on who can volunteer. So, for example, you can’t be a mentor in
this program if you have a criminal record of any sorts. Also, you’ll need to
go through a full police background check and a review by the local school
board before you are approved.
PARTICIPANT: That sounds really interesting to me. What’s the
time commitment?
SPEAKER: Ideally, we’d like mentors to visit the students
two or three times a week to help with homework, talk about their problems, or
whatever else the kids need. So I guess that’s about a three- or four-hour
commitment per week.
PARTICIPANT: I thought the visits were three hours each?
SPEAKER: Not the in-school ones. The kids can’t be away
from class that long. They get an hour to an hour and a half each session.
PARTICIPANT: Well, I’m definitely interested. How do we sign
up?
SPEAKER: I was just going to
explain that…[Fade out]