The Jewish Big Brother Big Sister Association of Cleveland (JBBBSA) is a non-profit agency that provides professionally supported mentoring services and programs to local children and their families. Cleveland's Jewish Big Brothers was formally organized in 1919. JBBBSA is a charter member of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
We serve over 150 children annually. And typically, have about 5 to 10 males on our wait list and 3 to 5 females.
Many of our clients have unresolved issues resulting from the loss of a parent; others may have withdrawn into themselves, exhibiting depression or reluctance to emotionally invest in relationships. Immigrant children faced with the challenges of acculturation often find themselves feeling isolated and detached and struggling to succeed in school.
Programs include:
Community-Based Mentoring provides a one-to-one mentoring match between an adult and a child between the ages of 6 and 18. The children are Jewish from single-parent families, recently resettled immigrant children and families with special circumstances.
School-Based Mentoring is an on-site program that matches high school volunteers with children in a group setting while still maintaining a one-to-one match. Volunteers meet with a child between ages 8 and 12 at the elementary school. Matches meet once a week for approximately one hour after school. Staff supervised activities range from tutoring to arts and crafts to a group community service project.
Our annual fundraising events include:
- Bowl For Kids’ Sake held each fall
- A raffle held each spring, at which we sell tickets to win a variety of substantial prizes
Group outings, offered seasonally, include:
- An annual Hanukah Party
- Fall fun at the farm
- Summer picnics
- A mystery bus ride
- Six Flags community service events
- Roller skating
- Snow tubing
- Rock climbing
- Ball games
- Hikes
- Browns stadium tour, and many more activities!
Partnership opportunity:
We are partnering with synagogues, churches, groups, clubs and businesses with the goal of identifying potential volunteers to become Big Brothers and Big Sisters. The partnership requires a limited amount of your time and can be highly beneficial for your place of business. Once the partnership is established, a liaison is identified in your company in order to communicate with us about potential and active matches. As a partner, we will feature you in all of our newsletters and promotional material.