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OKLAHOMA

Posted: Oct 10, 2020 7:45 AMUpdated: Oct 10, 2020 7:50 AM

Big Brothers Big Sisters Seeks Mentors, Little Sisters

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Tom Davis
Every child is born with great potential. But faced with adversity, the trajectory of life finds a less desirable path. A mentor empowers a child to realize his biggest possible future. To achieve goals once believed out of reach. To ignite his full potential.

 

Charlene Dew, Area Director for Big Brothers Big SIsters of Oklahoma, says mentors are needed locally. Appearing on COMMUNITY CONNECTION, Dew and twice mentor, Jeffrey Romines, shared the importance and the benefits of being a "Big" to a young person.

 

WHY MENTORING IS NEEDED

  • Oklahoma leads the world in incarceration rates, which means that 15% of our kids experience parental incarceration at some point in their childhood. That is more than three children in each Oklahoma classroom. Those children are 70% more likely to end up incarcerated themselves.

 

  • Nearly one-third of Oklahoma children have incurred two or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) ranking Oklahoma number one among other states. In adulthood, they are more likely to suffer from alcoholism, abuse drugs, suffer from depression and not graduate high school.

 

  • There is a mentoring gap in America. One third of our nation’s youth are growing up without a positive role model. Big Brothers Big Sisters aims to fill that gap in an effort to combat adverse childhood experiences and put children on the path to their biggest possible futures.
 
WHAT WE DO
 
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma’s evidence-based mentoring programs are designed to create positive, measureable outcomes for youth, including educational success, avoidance of risky behaviors, higher aspirations, greater confidence and better relationships. We match children (we call them Littles) with caring adult role models (we call them Bigs). Our Bigs share experiences with our Littles that expand their world in new ways.
 
BBBS is also looking for Little Sisters who may be in need of a Big Sister:
 

For more information, log on to https://bbbsok.org

 

 

 


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