Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to help children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with mentors that have a measurable impact on youth.
The children are called "Little Brothers" and "Little Sisters", or collectively, 'littles' contrasting to the 'bigs' used collectively to refer to the adults. Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors children, ages 6 through 18. Matches are (Big)male-(Little)male, female-male, and female-female.
In 1904, a young New York City court clerk named Ernest Kent Coulter was seeing more and more boys come through his courtroom. He recognized that caring adults could help many of these kids stay out of trouble, and he set out to find volunteers. That marked the beginning of Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City and the Big Brothers movement. By 1916, Big Brothers had spread to 96 cities across the country.
At around the same time, the members of a group called Ladies of Charity were befriending girls who had come through the New York Children’s Court. That group would later become Catholic Big Sisters.
Both groups continued to work independently until 1977, when Big Brothers of America and Big Sisters International joined forces and became Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Big Brothers Big Sisters currently operates in all 50 states and in 12 countries around the world.