Acceleration of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Native American Mentoring Initiative

Big Brothers Big Sisters Native American Mentoring Initiative (BBBS/NAMI) proposes to significantly increase the number of mentoring matches and to further build the capacity of the Initiative as a nationwide Big Brothers Big Sisters core program. BBBS will build on the early successes of the Native American Mentoring Initiative and respond to important challenges facing the original 17 pilot agencies. The intention is to bring more effective, culturally competent mentoring services to an increased number of American Indian and Alaskan Native (AI/AN) youth exposed to environmental risk factors and to deepen the capacity of BBBS nationwide to serve AI/AN youth during the term of this grant and afterwards. The proposed acceleration of the Native American Initiative has the following objectives: 1) To expand the program to reach an additional 1000 new matches during the grant period beyond the initial 2008-2010 goal of 1125, for a combined goal of 2125 new matches by October 2010. BBBS of America will provide acceleration grants to the original 17 Native American Initiative pilot agencies and extend participation in the Initiative to up to 10 additional agencies serving high concentrations of AI/AN populations in high-need communities. 2) To build the capacity of the BBBS Native American Mentoring Initiative on a national scale through the development of a Nationwide Native American Mentoring Strategic Plan and other integrated strategies. This plan will be rooted in the effective practices that are to be gathered during the grant period and in the resulting Native American Mentoring Model (or Models). Other key capacity building strategies will include: expanding networking among grantee agencies; establishing a network of Native American advisors on a national scale; and developing Native American partnerships at the national level. The Nationwide Native American Mentoring Strategic Plan will provide the framework for all BBBS agencies serving areas with large AI/AN populations to adapt to the unique communication and cultural challenges involved in reaching potential mentors and mentees in these communities. 3) To expand and enhance the measurement of outputs and outcomes among the Native American Mentoring Initiative grantees, primarily through the use of the Agency Information Management (AIM) system.
CA/NCF