The local chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters had a lot of new signups following April’s unrest. But on the Big Brothers side, follow-through has been lacking.
In the spring, the mentoring program saw a 3,000 percent increase in new applicants. However, only two percent of the men who signed up finished the process and are now mentoring a boy.
To illustrate the point, officials released a map (above) showing potential mentees in the city’s Eastern District. The blue diamond indicates an “at-risk” youth on the waitlist to be mentored, most of whom are male. The red cross denotes a spot where a murder took place in 2014. Citywide, this year has been even more deadly.
“It’s clear that the women of Baltimore have received the message about how important mentoring is,” City Councilman Brandon Scott said. “Now it’s up to the men of Baltimore to match that intensity for wanting to be there for our young men.”
The Bmore, Be Big Campaign set a goal of signing up 100 new Big Brothers during the month of November.
Interested male volunteers should go to www.biglittle.org/volunteer
