Indianapolis, IN – The Arthur Dean Family Foundation (ADFF) has awarded Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana (BBBSCI) with a $70,000 grant to support continued expansion of the agency’s Group Mentoring services and Beyond 18 program, as well as the well-being and renewal of staff members at BBBSCI. Since its founding in 2016, the Foundation has awarded more than $19 million to youth-serving organizations in Indiana.
Over the past five years, BBBSCI has expanded its programming to reach more young people waiting for a one-to-one mentor through eight-week Group Mentoring cohorts. The model pairs one mentor with three mentees and uses a structured curriculum of interactive activities focused on Thriving Indicators — the skills, attitudes, and behaviors young people need to reach their full potential. The program was created to offer mentoring relationships in new ways in the face of declining volunteerism, while preserving the strong, lasting connections at the heart of BBBSCI’s work. With support from ADFF, BBBSCI plans to serve 200 youth through Group Mentoring this year.
The grant also supports BBBSCI’s newly developed Beyond 18 program expansion, which provides ongoing professional mentoring from BBBSCI staff to young adults ages 18 to 25 who have graduated from the agency’s core one-to-one mentoring program. This program helps participants navigate early employment and postsecondary education while continuing to receive hands-on support from a trusted staff mentor. BBBSCI plans to grow the program from 42 to approximately 60 young adults this year.
Darcey Palmer-Shultz, CEO of BBBSCI stated, “We really appreciate this generous support from and partnership with the Arthur Dean Family Foundation. As we have worked to build out a continuum of mentoring services that supports youth from age 8 to 25, we are finding more ways to connect young people to the mentoring relationships, developmental opportunities, and sense of belonging that Big Brothers Big Sisters has always been known for. The Group Mentoring and Beyond 18 programs supported by ADFF are still relatively new at BBBSCI, but we’re already seeing strong demand and meaningful outcomes from supporting youth in new ways. This support will make it possible to keep growing and strengthening these programs to reach more youth.”
