Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona (BBBSAZ) recently received a generous grant from the Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation to support West Valley Mentoring for at risk youth. This very important funding will further BBBSAZ youth mentoring initiatives to strengthen underserved communities in the West Valley. This grant will immediately impact the youth by providing evidence-based mentoring to at risk youth to improve positive outcomes such as improved self-esteem, improved social competence and increased engagement in academics and reducing negative outcomes such as substance abuse and juvenile delinquency.
This grant will provide mentoring across the West Valley which is an area that has more youth waiting as compared to other areas in the Phoenix Metro area. This grant funding would pair additional adult-volunteer mentors with at-risk youth who would otherwise wait two years for a mentor. There is an increased need for mentoring services across the West Valley due to the ever-changing economic impact and the disparities it places on at-risk youth. It will assist us in enriching the quality and expanding the reach of our mentoring programs and their impact on youth facing adversity, for example those with a family member experiencing incarceration or those growing up in a single parent home.
Across the Phoenix metro area thousands of youth struggle to achieve their full potential. The need for additional resources and intervention is abundant. Fortunately, we know that 1-to-1 mentoring is a proven, successful method for reducing harmful effects of these experiences for children. Since 1955, BBBSAZ has led the way in establishing and measuring best practices in mentoring, with decades of success to show for it.
BBBS would like to sincerely thank the Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation for their continued support of mentoring in Arizona.
