SYCAMORE – What’s in a name? For Family Service Agency, which oversees four community assistance programs, the name Big Brothers Big Sisters meant more than doubling its budget for the service.
As of Jan. 1, the national mentoring program required its affiliates to commit an additional $72,000 a year. The local affiliate’s annual budget, exclusively funded by local contributions, is about $70,000, according to FSA’s Community Programs Director Erin Tamms.
So Tamms said rather than “cripple our service ability,” FSA’s board has voted to simply change the name of the program and drop affiliation with Big Brothers Big Sisters. The program’s new name is Youth Mentoring.
“When we looked at the facts and figures, not to mention the return on investment, it was clear that we should disaffiliate to provide even more of these amazing services to children in our county, rather than send our dollars off to the national headquarters,” FSA’s executive director, Tynisha Clegg, said in a news release.
Clegg said the program, provided free to children, costs the agency about $1,300 for each child who is matched with a mentor.
FSA has been affiliated with Big Brothers Big Sisters for more than 40 years, according to the release, but Tamms said many members of an Illinois association of which FSA is part are making a similar choice. She said of the $72,000, $60,000 is to hire more staff, and another $12,000 is for technology and affiliation dues.
“These agencies, they’re all struggling,” she said. “Agencies across the nations are struggling and making tough decisions. We’ve tried to stay very aware of what’s going on.”
FSA also oversees the Center for Counseling, Children’s Advocacy Center and Senior Services Center.
The Youth Mentoring program will continue to match adult mentors with children in need of a positive role model in their lives by having them meet one-on-one with adult volunteers for at least eight hours a month. Those who want to have an effect on a child’s life but aren’t willing or able to carve out eight hours a month also can be lunch buddies, meaning they have lunch with a child at school twice a month.
Tamms said nothing will change in terms of services provided to the community. About 30 local children are now on a waiting list for a mentor.
“We don’t want people thinking there’s no Big Brothers, Big Sisters,” Tamms said. “There will always be youth mentoring. We’re still doing our day-to-day job. It’s all staying in place.”
For more information, or to become a mentor or enroll your child, call 815-758-8616.