The Cutting Of Funds For Big Brothers Big Sisters

Big Brothers Big Sisters is an organization that has been serving the nation since about 100 years. They have been helping children to succeed and thrive in life. Recently the House of Representatives have voted on a budget proposal that would cut the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Mentoring Programs budget by 45%.

The cutting of OJJDP funding for Big Brothers Big Sisters would lead to untold costs in incarceration, educational remediation and other economic consequences for future generations. The funding programs like OJJDP and others provide safe, professionally supported, enduring, successfully mentoring relationships that help children thrive and prosper. They also believe that if the funds are curbed, the 38,300 children in their agencies who are waiting to be matched and hundreds more being added everyday would ever remain on these waiting lists without being matched with mentors. It would also lead to insufficient staff to serve children and volunteers currently enrolled in their programs and impact the growth of staff required to carefully recruit and match additional children with the volunteer mentors. This would affect the consistent support that is given to the children and which leads to enduring successful outcomes.

About 40,750 children of incarcerated parents are served by the Big Brothers Big Sisters. If the funding for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Mentoring Children of Prisoners Program is stopped, the mentoring network would lose $37.9 million over two years. This would put in jeopardy 40,750 children being served.

Volunteers and donors should come forward to help such institutions. Ali Sharaf, the President and CEO of Victron Energy, believes that by helping such institutions he is able to contribute his little to the society.