Carly Seifrit
Pamela Chambers
Interrogation
March 31, 2015
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
There are so many people in this country who do not grow up living “the American dream”. There are children that have to go through foster cares, child protective services and, unfortunately, then most of those children will end up wreaking havoc in their communities. Some fortunate ones to grow up with the white picket fence and the perfect childhood will grow up to be sponsors for some of the unfortunate children in America. Those sponsors will show children that they do have a purpose and they have the ability to live the American dream, if they so choose. Although the American dream has changed over the years these mentors are a saving grace for these adolescence to turn their lives around. For over 100 years there has been a very influential mentoring program. The Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has been helping change kids’ perspectives and giving them the opportunities to reach their potential. In 1904, a young New York City court clerk named Ernest Coulter was seeing an abundance of boys come through his courtroom. He recognized that caring adults could help many of these kids stay out of trouble, and he set out to find volunteers. That marked the beginning of the Big Brothers movement. Around the same time that Coulter was introducing the Big Brother movement, the members of a group called Ladies of Charity had the same concept only with young girls who had come through the New York Children’s Court. That group would later become Catholic Big Sisters. It wasn’t until 1977 that these two groups joined forces and became Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America.
In 1912 the New York Times reported that there were 26 cities in the country that were involved in the Big Brother Program. In 1914, the aforementioned court clerk, Coulter, began a lecture tour for the program and three years later the first national conference for Big Brothers Big Sisters Organization was held in Grand Rapids Michigan. Two years after that, in 1916, the organization spread to 96 cities. In 1977, Big Sisters International and Big Brothers Association merge, forming Big Brothers Big Sisters of America with 357 agencies. In 1984 Big Brothers Big Sisters of America occupies its headquarters at 230 North 13th Street in Philadelphia. In 2003, President George W. Bush announces three-year $450 million mentoring initiative in his State of the Union Address and a year after that, Big Brothers Big Sisters celebrates 100 years of serving America’s youth.