ABOUT US

Mission: 

The mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Williamsburg is to help young people in our service area achieve their highest potential during their formative years by providing positive, caring mentor relationships. (Board 1997)

History:

100 Years of Big Brothers Big Sisters

• 1902 Ernest Coulter, founder of the Big Brothers movement in 1904, helps organize the first children's court in New York City; Ladies of Charity, later Catholic Big Sisters of New York, start to befriend girls who come before the New York Children's Court
• 1903 Businessman Irvin F. Westheimer befriends a young boy in Cincinnati, OH; seeds are formed for start of Big Brothers in Cincinnati
• 1904 Ernest Coulter, clerk of the New York Children's Court, obtains 39 volunteers, who each agree to befriend one boy who has been in trouble; the organized Big Brothers movement begins
• 1912 The New York Times reports Big Brothers activity in 26 cities
• 1914 Ernest Coulter embarks on nationwide lecture tour on behalf of Big Brothers; planning begins for a national Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization
• 1916 Big Brothers work has spread to 96 cities
• 1923 Big Sisters work geared to African-Americans underway in Louisville, KY and Brooklyn, NY; Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., becomes treasurer of BB/BSF; first motion picture based on a Big and Little Brother relationship released by Paramount Pictures
• 1925 BB/BSF holds its first conference for agency executives; President Calvin Coolidge becomes patron of BB/BSF
• 1934 President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt become patrons of BB/ BSF
• 1947 Big Brothers Association headquarters opens in Philadelphia
• 1948 Norman Rockwell produces sketch that becomes a symbol for BBA
• 1951 Big Brothers of the Year Program begins; Associate Justice Tom Clark of the U.S. Supreme Court and J. Edgar Hoover are named
• 1952 Ernest Coulter dies
• 1958 BBA is chartered by Congress
• 1969 BBA has 150 affiliated agencies
• 1970 Big Sisters International (BSI) is incorporated
• 1971 BBA reports 208 affiliates
• 1977 BSI and BBA merge, resulting in 357 agencies
• 1985 BB/BSA honored with a commemorative stamp by the Postmaster General
• 1989 Public/Private Venture's Study to gauge impact on youth of having a Big Brother or Sister begins
• 1995 Public/Private Venture's Study research shows measurable, positive results on youth who have a Big Brother or Sister; seminal research in the field of youth mentoring
• 1997 President George H. Bush holds Volunteer Summit in Philadelphia; Big Brothers Big Sisters plays key role
• 2000 Big Brothers Big Sisters in Schools becomes a core program; partnerships with schools and volunteer-rich organizations such as churches, colleges, employers, fraternities are emphasized,
• 2001 Brand New Thinking marketing program focuses on the shared experiences to broaden volunteer appeal and the tagline "Little Moments, Big Magic" developed
• 2002 Service delivery model created to increase agencies ability to offer quality services to greater numbers of youth
• 2003 President George W. Bush announces three-year $450 million mentoring initiative in State of the Union Address