EngageCorps Mentor VISTA at Big Brother Big Sister of SJ

The BBBS mission is to create & support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. Our vision is that all youth achieve their full potential. We partner with parents/guardians, volunteers, and others in the community and hold ourselves accountable for each child in our program achieving: (1) Higher aspirations, greater confidence, and better relationships; (2) Avoidance of risky behaviors; and (3) Educational success.

BBBS offers a variety of mentoring programs to meet the needs of the children and families in the community and to accommodate the schedules of the volunteers we rely on to build quality mentoring relationships. The underserved youth who enroll in our programs are growing up in two of the poorest counties in NJ. Both areas score alarmingly low in Kids Count & Public Health Rankings surveys. Cumberland County has a 15.3% poverty rate, which is 25% higher than the national average, while Salem County's poverty rate is 10% higher than the NJ state's rate.

A VISTA member will serve as a guide to our mentors and mentees once they become an official mentoring relationship or "Match". Their role will be that of a Match Relationship Specialist, responsible for communicating with each mentor, mentee, and parent/guardian (if applicable) according to the established BBBS of America communication schedule. These communications will allow the VISTA to help the match build an effective rapport, identify the need for resources, and evaluate the effectiveness of programming. Documentation of each conversation will be entered into the BBBS data management system.