CHICAGO — There’s a strong need for more male volunteers, especially men of color, on the city’s South and West side neighborhoods.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago has created a waiting list because there just aren’t enough men stepping up to volunteer their time, CEO Jeremy Foster said.
It's the first time the organization has instituted a waiting list, said Kristine Brown, marketing and communications manager.
"We have had very consistent growth, and now as we are looking to serve more children, and target new high-risk neighborhoods, we have had more children enrolled than volunteers to match them with," she said.
At least 30 boys are waiting for a match, and they anticipate the list will grow longer. One way the organization is trying to help with that is by launching “30 Male Bigs in 30 Days.” They're calling on more men to step up and commit to mentoring a young man.
“Men in particular are very hard to recruit across the country,” Foster said. “Men of color are really hard to recruit.”
The 50-year-old organization is ready to embark on a $15 million campaign that will beef up recruitment staff. It wants to partner with more community organizations, too.
Foster said the board has already raised a few million dollars and plans to approach more investors and entertainers over time.
The goal is to serve 5,000 young people in the next five years. It's at about 1,700 today.
“We’re taking this seriously,” Foster said. He said more details will be revealed in an upcoming formal announcement of the campaign.
The extra funding will allow for them to concentrate more on the South and West sides, he said, areas where gun violence and gangs are common.
“It’s not like it’s thousands of the gangbangers and bad people who are influencing the kids. It’s not a huge number,” he said. “They’re committed to mentoring the kids the wrong way. That’s the reality, but imagine if we flood these communities with good people.”
Foster said those who are committed to being a big brother, or sister, can apply and go through training. They are then matched with one little brother or sister. They’re required to meet with them in person at least twice a month. They can apply to volunteer online at www.bbbschgo.org.
Miles Alexander, 19, joined the program in high school. He has since completed the program and is now attending his first semester at Fayetteville Technical Community College in North Carolina.
His “big brother” has always been there for him, and he said he helped steer him on the right path.
“When I got in trouble for stealing, we just had a conversation, and it stopped me from making so many more bad decisions after that,” Alexander said. “It got me thinking of the consequences, and I started thinking more about my future.”
Miles Alexander (right) holds his big brother's baby. His brig brother Bobby (left), 34, of Logan Square works as a VIBE manager at the Hard Rock Hotel. [Provided]
What started as a casual friendship, soon turned into a mentorship.
“At first, it took me a minute to understand what a male mentor would be,” Alexander said. “I knew kids who did drugs, so to have someone who wasn't doing that and successful, it gave me an unintentional role model. It didn't feel forced, or like someone I had to be like.”
The two would go out to eat and to basketball games. Alexander said it was always nice to have someone to talk to. He was born in North Carolina, but when he was 5 he moved to Chicago with his mother. They lived on the South Side with his grandmother for a short time, then moved to Rogers Park.
His mother signed him up for a Big Brother, but he said as he got older, he began to appreciate what they were trying to do.
“It helps us understand that there are rules to the world, that there's authority, and you can’t be in control,” Alexander said. “Without a male figure in your life, you don’t understand that.”
He wants to be a “big brother” to someone one day, he said.
“Without it, I would’ve been in a totally different place,” Alexander said.
Mike Grego, 27, of Lincoln Park, signed up to be a male volunteer in 2013. He said he did a lot of volunteering with children growing up and missed it after college.
“I wanted to do something that would make a difference,” he said.
His little brother is 14 now, and their relationship has grown deeper over the last four years.
“The first year we didn’t have deep conversations, it was more surface level, but now it's about issues, and we both talk about what's going in our lives,” he said.
He said the organization does a great job with matching and training.
