Pedro A. Chavez, left, director of education and public affairs at Big Brothers Big Sisters, also serves as a Big Brother to several youth in the community. Courtesy photo.
Website will help Latino youth facing adversity who are in dire need of positive role models
CAMARILLO – In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has launched LatinoBigs.org, the nation’s first bilingual website focused on one-to-one long-term youth mentoring services. The website features Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors and mentees, families, supporters and donors, the organization reported this week in a media release.
This national website will serve as a hub to inspire Latinos to consider becoming mentors to youth facing adversity in cities across the United States. Locally, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County serves 80 percent Latino youth in our high quality and life changing mentoring programs in the community and throughout many schools and nonprofit sites.
“We have more than 150 youth on a waiting list for their Big Brother or Big Sister, and the reality is that the vast majority are Latino children in the Camarillo, Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Ventura communities,” said Pedro A. Chavez, director of education and public affairs at Big Brothers Big Sisters and a Big Brother to several youth in the community. “We celebrate every effort to bring greater public awareness to the growing need of providing a caring adult mentor to youth that come from difficult life circumstances. We hope this will inspire Latinos in the community to step up and become mentors and help guide and influence our young people to make positive choices in life to improve their socio-economic condition, not only for themselves but for their families.”
Latino mentors can contribute to a successful future for Latino children and youth by providing a safe and supported one-to-one mentoring relationship throughout the educational process, which will result in positive educational attainment including high school graduation and improved access to higher education, technical training or trade school. By working with Big Brothers Big Sisters, Latino mentors will support strong healthy families and will strive to work toward removing cultural and socio-economic barriers hindering Latino children and families in today’s struggle for the American dream.
Big Brothers Big Sisters will share success stories on the impact made in the lives of Latino youth and their families through public education articles on value of mentoring in addressing the high school drop-out crisis, radio interviews on local stations and information on how one can become a mentor in our community-based mentoring program county-wide and/or our lunch buddies mentoring program at Chavez and Ramona Elementary Schools in Oxnard and Montalvo Elementary School in Ventura. You can sign-up for our Lunch Buddies program by clicking on the school site: Chavez or Ramona (Oxnard), Montalvo (Ventura). Commitment is 45 minutes, one day a week for a school year with an extended opportunity to connect during the summer time. There are also other mentoring opportunities that provide greater flexibility to your work and life schedule.
Big Brothers Big Sisters serves children in low-income, single parent, foster youth or households where a parent is not present. Independent studies have shown that once enrolled in the program, children are more likely than their peers to improve in school, make healthier choices and achieve higher self-esteem and aspirations.
Make a Big difference in a child’s life by contacting Pedro A. Chavez at Big Brothers Big Sisters by emailing pchavez@bbsvc.org or calling 805-484-2282, ext. 16. You can also join us on Facebook to stay connected with the latest updates http://www.facebook.com/bbsvc
About Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County:
For more than 100 years nationally and 43 locally, Big Brothers Big Sisters has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life. As the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful, professionally supported matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”), ages 6 through 18, in communities across the country. We develop positive relationships that have a direct and lasting effect on the lives of young people. Learn how you can positively impact a child’s life, donate, or volunteer at www.bbsvc.org or call 805-484-2282.