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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Minnesota (BBBS) provides youth in Steele, Dodge, Waseca, and Rice Counties with professionally supported one-to-one mentoring relationships that help them succeed in life by igniting, empowering, and defending their potential. Each mentoring match is professionally supported by a Match Support Specialist to help ensure child safety and aid the match in attaining their goals.  Youth who are matched in our program learn life skills, do better academically, and build their confidence and self-esteem.  Mentoring relationships open pathways for youth to achieve success in their future.

BBBS’ commitment to positively impact youth and our community through one-to-one mentorship is now more important than ever.  Studies show that having a trusted adult mentor can build a child’s social and emotional skills, including those necessary for a child to recognize and control emotions and behaviors, establish, and maintain positive relationships, make responsible decisions, solve challenging situations, and set and achieve positive goals.  The mentoring relationship helps increase youth’s self-esteem and social-emotional skills by acting as an advocate and friend.  Volunteers make BBBS work possible.  In a recent study, 99.3% of our volunteers said being a Big to their Little makes their own life better.  Typically, people volunteer to change other’s lives, but when it changes our own, it’s a true win-win.