A Tampa-headquartered nonprofit running one-to-one mentoring programmes that pair adult volunteers with young people facing adversity across all 50 states.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is a nonprofit youth mentoring organisation headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Founded in 1904 by New York City court clerk Ernest Kent Coulter, it is the largest youth mentoring organisation in the United States, operating through a network of more than 230 agencies across all 50 states and more than 5,000 communities. The organisation holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code.
Its core activity is one-to-one mentoring: adult volunteers, known as Bigs, are paired with children and young people facing adversity, known as Littles, from age 5 through young adulthood. The programmes are evidence-based and focus on education, social skills and personal development. Outcomes measured include college enrolment - Littles are 20% more likely to enrol - and lifetime earnings, where Littles earn 15% more; participants are also significantly less likely to engage in risky behaviours.
The organisation works across the fields of youth mentoring, social services, juvenile-justice prevention, education and child development. Its model depends on a volunteer base and on agency staff who recruit, train and support mentoring matches and measure programme impact. With more than 120 years of continuous operation and a national footprint anchored in Florida, the organisation combines local agency delivery with central support functions based in Tampa.
