Mission Statement
Our Mission is to provide children facing adversity with strong and
enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that
change their lives for the better, forever.
Vision Statement
Our Vision is that all children achieve success in life.
Accountability Statement
We partner with parent/guardians, volunteers and others in the
community and hold ourselves accountable for each child in our
program achieving: (i) Higher aspirations, greater confidence and
better relationships, (ii) Avoidance of risky behaviors, and (iii)
Education success
Started providing mentoring services in Hillsborough County
in 1964; celebrating 50th anniversary in 2014
Our services are evidence-based and outcome oriented
We served 1,721 youth in Hillsborough, Pasco & Polk
Counties in 2012; over 1,200 in Hillsborough County alone
$2,450,000 total revenue in 2012
⅓ government funding; ⅔ private funding
Children’s Board has funded our programs for as long as we
can remember (e.g., mentoring services to youth who are HIV
infected/affected; pregnant teens and their siblings; children
who were abused or witnessed abuse; children of
incarcerated parents; and mentor training)
$200,000 to Make 200 Big/Little Matches
Between October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013
Goal: 65 Big/Little Matches for East Tampa
42 made as of July 31st
Goal: 60 Big/Little Matches for Sulphur Springs
42 made as of July 31st
Goal: 75 Big/Little Matches for West Tampa
50 made as of July 31st
We serve youth who are 5 through 8 years old (i.e., 3rd grade) and their siblings
Sulphur Springs Program Coordinator
Vanessa Balazs
East Tampa Program Coordinator
Rickayle Zanders
West Tampa Program Coordinator
Vanessa Guerrero
Attend school regularly
Arrive at school on-time
On-time promotion in grades 1 – 3
Have parents involved in their child’s
development, education and/or school
A seven year old Little Brother lives with his twenty-six year old cousin, who is taking care of his six other
siblings as well. The kids had a rough start to their lives and had to take care of themselves because their
parents used and sold drugs. Their parents are now incarcerated. During the interview, the Little Brother
was not talkative and was very reserved. The cousin assured the interviewer that the Little Brother wanted
a Big Brother but was unsure of how to express his feelings. In working with the Little Brother’s school and
teacher, the interviewer found that the Little Brother had significant trust issues with adults given his
history; she indicated that he takes a long time to open up to adults, even her as the teacher.
When the Little Brother was matched with a Big Brother, it was made known during the pre-matching the
background of the Little Brother and his trust issues to make sure the Big Brother did not get discouraged
with the lack of Little Brother’s communication and trust toward him.
This match has been together now for about 6 months and is doing great. The Big Brother is really
committed to helping his Little Brother become more expressive and communicative. This Little Brother
loves to write so the Big Brother has been encouraging him to write in a journal. Big Brother said that when
he picks Little Brother up, for the first half hour or so he is very quiet and in his shell and then he acts like a
kid again for a few hours. As soon as they go back in the car to drive home, he goes back into his shell. The
journal is a great way for this Little Brother to write down his happy memories of their outings and have his
writings to read if he is feeling bad when he is back home.
Children of: (i) incarcerated parents or (ii)
parents with a long history of incarceration
Children of military families
Elementary school children in our site-based
mentoring program, referred to us by teachers
and guidance counselors from select schools
Children living in those zip codes with the
highest juvenile arrest records
Gender:
60% Female
40% Male
Race:
63% African American
20% Hispanic
15% Caucasian
2% Other
Age:
20% 5-8 years
55% 9-12 years
25% 13-17 years
www.bbbsfl.org