Celebration of the 1000th Match of Big Brothers Big Sisters
of Southeastern PA
at Penn
St. Francis de Sales School, Philadelphia, PA
November 24, 2008
In September 2003, the Fox Leadership Program at Penn launched a school-based mentoring program in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southeastern Pennsylvania. The program matches Penn undergraduates with elementary- and middle-school students from eight schools and a community center.
The program has grown from 30 matches in 2003-2004 to a projected 450 matches by the end of this school year. The program made its 1,000 match this month pairing a Penn undergraduate with a student from St. Francis de Sales School.
The partnership combines traditional mentoring with a structured academic component. Matches in the pilot program divide their time between mentoring and a financial-literacy curriculum with lessons on money management, credit and savings, education/career planning and more.
The Penn program is the largest campus-based Big Brothers Big Sisters program in the United States. In addition, Penn undergraduates are the local agency’s largest single source of volunteers.
