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Children Supported by
Parents, Guardians or Caring Adult More Likely
to be Hopeful about School and Life
New Gallup Student Poll Supports Importance of Big
Brothers Big Sisters
In Communities and Classrooms
Philadelphia, PA, May 7, 2009 -- A nationwide Gallup
poll released this week finds children who have support from their parents,
guardians or another caring adult are more likely to be hopeful, engaged and
positive about their future well being educationally and socially.
The Gallup Student Poll, released by Gallup, America’s Promise Alliance,
and the American Association of School Administrators, measures the hope,
engagement and well-being of students in grades 5–12 through a new,
groundbreaking survey administered anonymously in America’s schools. Gallup
will conduct the poll twice annually, in March and October. The national
results will be used by America’s Promise Alliance, and others in designing
appropriate responses that support youth.
Half of the children surveyed indicated they are not hopeful, with
one-third indicating that they are stuck and 17 percent reporting they feel
discouraged. While 95 percent of the children believe they will finish high
school, current graduation trends reveal that only one in three is likely to
graduate on time. Those students surveyed who indicated they feel hopeful
and believe they will graduate were also more likely to say they have caring
parents or another supportive adult in their lives.
“This poll supports what independent research tells us about children who
have Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors; that they are more likely than their
peers to be successful students, to be close to their parents and guardians,
and resist negative temptations, such as violence, crime and drugs.
Long-term mentoring matches that are monitored and supported yield stronger
results,” said Big Brothers Big Sisters of America President and Chief
Executive Officer Judy Vredenburgh.
The nation’s largest donor supported volunteer mentoring network’s
255,000 community- and school-based mentoring matches are monitored and
assisted by professionals who depend on donations to recruit, carefully
match and screen volunteers and provide ongoing support to the mentors,
children and their families.
“When more than 1.2 million young people drop out of high school every
year, everyone needs to work together to address the crisis – educators,
parents, business and community leaders,” said Alma Powell, chair of
America’s Promise Alliance. “For too long the voice of youth has been
missing from the national dialogue. This poll gives insights into the daily
experiences, challenges and aspirations of our young people, so that we can
better identify ways to meet their needs and help them be successful.”
“Research shows that the more support young people have, both inside and
outside of the classroom, the more likely they are to stay in school and
succeed in life,” said America’s Promise Alliance President and CEO
Marguerite Kondracke.
Breakthrough Study Finds Adults Mentored as
Children in Big Brothers Big Sisters are Better-Educated and Wealthier than
Peers.
Miami, FL, June 16, 2009
-- A study conducted by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Big
Brothers Big Sisters finds adults mentored as children through Big Brothers
Big Sisters are more likely than peers with similar backgrounds but who were
not involved in the program to have a four-year college degree and incomes
of $75,000 or more. They also report strong relationships with their
spouses, children and friends.
Big Brothers Big Sisters
released the findings this week during its National Conference. The 2009
conference is being hosted in Miami and is sponsored by Comcast.
“The children we serve are
among America’s most vulnerable, whether they have one parent, live in
households experiencing poverty or have a parent who is incarcerated,” said
Judy Vredenburgh, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America President and Chief
Executive Officer. “Independent research has told us for some time that Big
Brothers Big Sisters improves the odds that children we serve will succeed
educationally and socially. This is our first large-scale examination of
the long-term benefits, suggesting we have the potential to break cycles too
often associated with family and community poverty.”
The cross-sectional study was
commissioned by Big Brothers Big Sisters to gather evidence that its
long-term structured mentoring program’s effects reach far beyond the time
that children are enrolled in the program. The nation’s largest donor
supported volunteer mentoring network’s 255,000 community- and school-based
mentoring matches depends on donations to recruit, carefully match and
screen volunteers and provide ongoing support to the mentors, children and
their families.
Among the study’s specific
findings:
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Alumni were 75% more likely than non-alumni to have received a
four-year college degree (28% of alumni vs. 16% of non-alumni).
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Alumni were 39% more likely than non-alumni to have current
household incomes of $75,000 or higher (46% of alumni vs. 33% of
non-alumni).
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A majority of alumni are extremely or very satisfied with
their relationships to friends (72%), family (65%) and spouses (62%). Fewer
non-alumni report the same level of satisfaction (46%, 50% and 40%,
respectively).
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Approximately two in three (64%) alumni are extremely or very
satisfied with life compared to just over one in three (35%) non-alumni.
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A majority of alumni (62%) perceive themselves to have
achieved a higher level of success than their peers who were not involved in
Big Brothers Big Sisters. Furthermore, this is twice as many as the 31% of
non-alumni who report being more successful than other people they grew up
with.
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Adult Littles are more likely than non-alumni to be engaged in
their community over the past 12 months, particularly when it comes to
volunteering (52% vs 35%, respectively) and holding a leadership role in an
organization working on an issue (29% vs. 16%, respectively).
A little more than half of the
alumni Littles who participated in the study grew up in single-parent homes
(52%) and described their childhood financial situation as worse off than
the average American household (51%). The Big Brothers Big Sisters alumni
reported that having a “Big” in their lives positively influenced their self
confidence, provided stability and changed their perspectives on life,
taught them new things, influenced aspects of their education, pushing them
to set higher goals and make better decisions.
Methodology
Between March 3 and April 16 2009,
Harris Interactive conducted an online survey of 449 adults, 200 of whom
participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters as “Littles” for at least one year
during their childhood and 249 who never participated in the program. Alumni
Littles were sampled from a combination of Harris Interactive’s panel of
respondents and Big Brothers Big Sisters lists. All 249 of the non alumni
were sampled from the Harris Interactive panel of online respondents. The non-alumni segment allows for a
comparison between Big Brothers Big Sisters alumni and adults who had a
similar profile as youth but who did not have a Big Brother or Big Sister as
a youth.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of El Dorado County
was founded in 1977 and helps local children beat the odds through youth
mentoring programs. The organization depends on donations to help recruit,
train and match Mentor volunteers with youth in at-risk environments. Says
Executive Director Deborah Jones, “Once a mentor match is made, our
professional staff continues to supervise the match relationship to ensure
child safety, the development of a meaningful friendship, engagement in
positive activities and healthy outcomes for youth. This study just
substantiates what we already knew – a meaningful relationship with a
positive adult role model changes lives for the better.”
If you would like to get involved in Big
Brothers Big Sisters locally, call Krysti or Amber at 530-626-1222.
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