Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta

Level Up: Future-focused In-school Mentoring in Middle Schools: Level Up is a large-scale mentoring program that utilizes paid mentors embedded full-time in middle schools. We created this innovative program in response to the needs expressed by principals, counselors, and administrators for mentoring at scale in middle schools. They wanted trained positive adult role models to provide consistent and direct mentoring for students to address unprecedented levels of classroom disruptions, student conflicts and other behavior issues. The program is designed to serve 100 students per grade at partner middle schools through small group and 1:1 mentoring. We continue to serve these students through eighth grade, when possible, while adding a new group of sixth grade students each year. Mentoring sessions take place weekly during the school day in a designated space at each school and follow a curriculum aligned with these outcome areas: Social-Emotional Learning, Sense of Belonging, Vision for the Future and Avoidance of Risky Behaviors. In the 2022-23 school year we served students at three Atlanta Public Schools (APS) middle schools: Price, Young and Russell middle schools. Level Up has garnered significant interest from local governments and school districts which has led to continued growth and expansion. In the 2023-24 school year we have added more grade levels at each of the three initial schools, in addition to expanding the program to two more schools: Bunche Middle School (APS) and Lithonia Middle School (DeKalb County.) In 2023, we served a total of 857 students through the Level Up program.

Beyond School Walls workplace mentoring program: In our Beyond School Walls workplace mentoring program, high school students (Littles) are matched with corporate volunteers (Bigs) in 1:1 mentoring relationships. Matches meet as a group for two hours/month at the mentors workplace and engage in sessions facilitated by BBBSMA staff. The curriculum focuses on career and college readiness, along with relational skill development. Sessions allow a Big and Little to participate in a shared activity while building relationship and conversation. Each year of the curriculum correlates to the next, but is designed so that a Little can enter the program at any year within the cycle. This allows us to continue engaging the Littles throughout all four years of their high school career and as part of a cohort. Mentoring relationships are created and supported adhering to the same evidence-based best practices as those in our traditional 1:1 mentoring program. In the 2023-2024 school year, we have doubled the number of Beyond School Walls partnerships between high schools and corporate partners from three to six including the following: Cox Enterprises and Chamblee High School; Therrell High School and UPS; Chick-fil-A and South Atlanta High School; Google and Benjamin Mays High School; Insight Global and Cross Keys High School; and Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta and North Atlanta High School. The focus of the Beyond School Walls program is on career readiness; during the 2023-24 school year Bigs and Littles follow a curriculum designed to help Littles learn how to create solutions and solve problems in corporate settings. In 2023, we served 188 high school students through the Beyond School Walls program.

1:1 Mentoring with Volunteers: In our traditional 1:1 mentoring program we match children and youth (Littles) with caring adult volunteers (Bigs). The program is individualized for each child to meet their social, emotional and academic needs. Parents/guardians enroll their children in our program and work with program staff to identify issues their child may be dealing with, areas of concern, and goals for the mentoring relationship. Our staff then create a personalized match plan for each youth outlining specific goals that can be monitored and supported for the duration of the match. Volunteers and youth are matched based on a range of criteria including geographic proximity, personality, life experiences, and shared interests. The Big Brother/Sister and Little Brother/Sister spend quality time together engaged in enrichment activities at times that are most convenient for them and their families. In some cases, Bigs and Littles meet at the Littles school during the school day. A one-year commitment of two meetings/month on average is required. Each mentoring match is supported by a dedicated Program Specialist who provides ongoing resources and support to the Big, the Little and parents/guardians. Young people can remain in our program until they graduate from high school. In 2023, we served 872 children and youth ages 8-18 in our 1:1 Mentoring with Volunteers program. An enhancement to our core mentoring programs, Big Futures programming is designed to ensure that all High School youth are highly engaged and supported with tailored programming, resources and support. Our goal is that our high school Littles graduate both high school and our program with a concrete plan for their future, a sense of confidence as they enter adult life and a support system to help them navigate the transitions to and through high school. We offer a suite of resources and connections to other community partners who support high school youth. Through consistent and tailored communications to our High School matches and families, we provide ongoing opportunities such as college application and preparation support, college tours, and corporate behind-the-scenes visits. We continuously solicit feedback from high school Littles and their Bigs and families as part of our ongoing evaluation and assessment of Big Futures to ensure our programming is meeting the needs of the high school students in our program. In 2023, we served more than 550 high school students with our Big Futures activities and resources. We are very proud of the outcomes the young people we served in 2023 were able to achieve, at school and in the community: - 99% were promoted to the next grade on time - 99% did not become involved in the juvenile justice system - 97% of high school seniors graduated on time - 91% of graduating seniors reported plans to pursue education, employment, enlistment,or entrepreneurship