Big Brothers Big Sisters comes to Charlottesville

Though an array of organizations in Albemarle County and Charlottesville provide activities and enrichment opportunities for at-risk children, the localities have been missing a leader in the field: the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.
Now that’s changing. The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge is opening an office on the Downtown Mall on Monday and will begin running its mentoring program for area youth in the coming weeks.
With its unique demographic mix, Charlottesville is a prime candidate for the organization. Affluent residents and University of Virginia students provide a flush pool of potential mentors, while the city’s high poverty rate, measuring at least 25 percent of the population, means there is great demand for the group’s services.
The organization hopes to enroll at least 125 local children and teenagers this year, though officials say that more than 1,000 could want to participate. In 2007, nearly 100 Charlottesville-area residents contacted the Staunton branch to see if they could serve as mentors.
“The response has been incredibly positive,” said Jeff Mitchell, a member of the organization’s board of directors. “So many people are saying it has been a long time coming.”
There is no typical profile of a “little brother or sister.” Many live in single-parent homes, while others have parents in the military or in prison. Though referrals often come from school guidance counselors, many times it is the parent who enrolls his or her own child, in hopes of having another positive adult presence in that child’s life.
“I really do believe that relationships that are being developed through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program changes lives for the better,” Mayor Dave Norris said during the organization’s kick-off event Tuesday at the Paramount Theatre.
Mentors typically spend two-to-three hours a week with the children, doing sundry activities such as playing baseball, watching a movie or going to a park.
Vicki Davis, the development director of the Staunton branch, said that mentoring an 8-year-old Waynesboro girl has proven incredibly fulfilling.
“It’s an amazing experience to have a child look up to me not as an authority figure but as a friend, and to know I’m a role model for her,” she said.
The Big Brothers Big Sisters program is not the only youth initiative growing in the area. The city has re-launched an online portal (http://www.charlot
tesville.org/mentorville) to help residents discover other mentor opportunities in the city and Albemarle County.
The city is also expanding its summer student jobs program this year. For six weeks last year, about 30 Charlottesville teenagers worked for the city or nonprofits.
The program gives students valuable work experience in potential career paths, while teaching them the intangible lessons of life that can’t be learned in the classroom.
“The students absolutely get an understanding of life skills and learn the respect and judgment they have to have being employed,” said Mike Svetz, director of the city’s parks and recreation program.
This year the city hopes to double the size of the program to 60 students and to partner with private businesses for the first time.
During an economic downturn it is even more important that students from low-income families have avenues to summer employment, Councilor David Brown said.
“A lot of times the kids who most need the experience in the workforce have the most trouble getting jobs,” Brown said.