The Allstate Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters partner to give youth brighter futures

DALLAS, Nov. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Big Brothers Big Sisters Greater Dallas (BBBS) received a $75,000 grant from the Allstate Foundation's Good Starts Young® program, the funds of which will help pair children in the community with positive, caring mentors that change their lives for the better, forever.

Through Good Starts Young®, the Allstate Foundation supports BBBS Greater Dallas' mentor2.0 program, which is designed to help students reach their greatest potential through post-secondary success, whether that be college, entering the military, or taking a job out of high school. High school students across Dallas have embraced the innovative online program. "My mentor makes conversations fun. She asks me questions and cares about what I am doing. When I get a message from her it makes me really happy and I message her back right away," says Sashay, a mentor2.0 student. There are currently 400 students participating in the mentor2.0 program. Last year, mentor2.0 students achieved the following:

• 95% improved or maintained their grades
• 92% improved their scholastic competence
• 89% improved attitudes towards risky behaviors
• 92% improved or maintained their parental trust

97.5% of students, who were part of a BBBS mentoring program when they graduated, are either enrolled in college, enlisted in the military, or employed in their first year after high school. The support of The Allstate Foundation's Good Starts Young® is critical to continuing success of North Texas youth and students, like Sashay.                                          

Now in its fifth year, The Allstate Foundation Good Starts Young® empowers youth to reach their fullest potential and achieve their dreams. Good Starts Young is designed not only to help children thrive as students, but to develop as future leaders, entrepreneurs, and citizens. It challenges barriers more than ever before, and empowers youth to serve causes greater than themselves as a way of improving the world around them.

"At Allstate, we firmly believe that good starts young and our goal is to inspire the next generation of leaders to reach their full potential," said Roberto DeLeon, Allstate Corporate Relations Senior Manager in Texas. "We're proud to partner with Big Brothers Big Sisters to provide a brighter future for youth in North Texas."

Allstate has also partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters for National Mentoring Month. Launched in 2002 by The National Mentoring Partnership (MENTOR) and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, National Mentoring Month is all about communities coming together to increase the number of mentors and ensure positive outcomes for young people. This campaign celebrates the lasting effects mentoring has on youth, and helps adults become mentors.

To learn more about how you can become a mentor, and ensure our youth are placed in the lives of caring mentors, visit https://www.bbbstx.org/dallas/

About Big Brothers Big Sisters – For more than 100 years, 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, monitored matches between adult volunteers ("Bigs") and children ("Littles"), ages 6 through young adulthood, in communities across the country. We develop positive relationships that have a direct and lasting effect on the lives of young people. Big Brothers Big Sisters develops positive, meaningful relationships that have a direct and lasting effect on the lives of young people. Through one of their three mentoring programs, a mentee ("Little") is able to spend one-on-one time with their mentor ("Big"). BBBS helps kids reach higher aspirations, avoid risky behaviors, and reach educational success.

SOURCE The Allstate Foundation; Big Brothers Big Sisters