Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh expands Washington footprint
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh is expanding its Washington presence, the organization announced earlier this week.
In addition to its downtown Washington space, BBBSPGH hosted an open house Oct. 5 at new offices inside the CNX Headquarters building in Southpointe’s business park.
The move symbolizes the nonprofit’s renewed drive to match at-risk children in Washington and Greene counties with mentors who can help those youth reach their full potential.
“Adding a space here connects us to more potential volunteers,” said Becky Flaherty, CEO of BBBSPGH. “That is our biggest need, always, because we do one-to-one mentoring. The headquarters at CNX is … a great space to connect with other agencies.”
Big Brothers Big Sisters connects at-risk youth ages 6 through 13, called “Littles,” with mentors who help them gain confidence, skills and knowledge. Mentors, called “Bigs,” help their littles aim high and reach goals.
This year alone, BBBSPGH has matched 882 Littles with Bigs. In Washington and Greene counties, more than 60 matches are underway, and the organization expects an additional 50 kids will be paired with a mentor by the end of this year.
“Our waitlist is always ongoing and some kids, on average, can wait three years for a mentor,” said Zandra McDonald, director of programs, noting about 60 kids are waiting for a match in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Along with one-on-one mentoring, BBBSPGH last year launched Bigs in Blue, a program that pairs youth with law enforcement officers. The program began at Washington Park Elementary, and McDonald hopes to expand to other area school districts.
“We’ve done a full school year with our Bigs in Blue in Washington. That has been going very well,” she said. “It happens in a group setting. It’s still one-to-one mentoring, but it’s really introducing our youth to what an officer does. They are great resources. We’re adding officers at Washington Park. We would love to, if there’s a police department that wants to join forces, we would absolutely love to be able to expand into Greene County as well.”
The nonprofit would also love to add names to its volunteer list for the Mentor 2.0 program in Charleroi.
“Mentor 2.0 really focuses on post-secondary success,” McDonald said, noting it’s a technology and curriculum-based program. “The mentor and mentee communicate on a secure online platform week to week,” and meet in-person monthly.
“We really want to serve as many youth as possible in that school,” she said. “Volunteers in the Charleroi area have been a challenge.”
Big Brothers Big Sisters hopes the addition of its Southpointe office increases awareness for and sparks interest in the organization’s programming. Both Flaherty and McDonald aim to foster relationships with local businesses and hope to register businessmen and women as mentors.
“It all comes down to presence. Southpointe is a prime location. Being able to connect with more businesses will be really helpful for us to expand the knowledge of the program … and hopefully get more people on board,” said McDonald.
Anyone interested in becoming a Big can check out the nonprofit’s website at https://www.bbbs.org/.