Big Brothers, Big Sisters Program Returning To Nantucket After 12-Year Absence

The Big Brothers, Big Sisters mentoring program - which has been dormant on Nantucket for more than a decade - is set to return to the island. JR Mell, the regional director of the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Cape Cod & The Islands, share the following message with the Current over the weekend:

"Following years of calls for service, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape Cod & the Islands (BBBSCCI) reopened our service to the youth of Nantucket on Wednesday, January 10^th. The program has been inactive on Nantucket for more than a decade, with the last mentoring match closing in 2012.

"BBBSCCI is a one-to-one youth mentoring program, that matches youth (Littles) who could benefit from additional, positive adult guidance and attention, with a thoroughly screened volunteer mentor (Big) from the community. In the traditional BBBS program, Bigs & Littles meet up two to three times per month, for a few hours each time, for outings of their choosing out in the community. These outings are based off of Bigs' and Littles' preferences and focus on free to low-cost activities that both enjoy. For youth, the program is grounded in the principles of youth development and helps children to build on social and emotional learning (SEL). For the volunteer Bigs, this is an immensely gratifying program, that nearly every Big says gives back 10-fold what you put in.

"In addition to the traditional community-based mentoring program, we are in the final stages of implementing a BBBS-facilitated near-peer mentoring program that matches high school students with intermediate school students for one school year, in a guided curriculum-based mentoring program. This program model focuses on growth in SEL for intermediate school students, but also has outcomes for the high school Bigs, with stronger connections to their school and community.

"Youth enrollments for the traditional BBBS Community Based Mentoring program are currently open. Youth should be between the ages of 7-13 at the time of enrollment, though once matched with a Big, they may remain in the program up until high school graduation. For parents/guardians or referral partners who would like to enroll a child, please visit www.CapeBigs.org to start the process.

"In the coming weeks, BBBS will be hosting a launch event for the community to learn more about programming and for interested volunteers to meet the staff behind the mission. For the Community-Based Program, volunteers must be a minimum of 18 years of age and be able to commit to a minimum of one year of being a mentor. There is no upper age for volunteers, the average age for BBBSCCI volunteers is 52. For potential volunteers who are interested in learning more, visit www.Capebigs.org

"BBBSCCI can only be successful with the support and belief of the year-round community. I would encourage anyone who is interested in learning more about BBBS and how they could help to reach out to me directly."