(11/15/13) - (Harrisonburg) Big Brothers Big Sisters 'Big' Amanda Lutz, right, and 'little' Evan Geisler, left, play together at the Dream Come True Playground on Friday. JMU and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County received a $229,221 extension to a research grant received in 2011. (Jason Lenhart/Daily News-Record)
HARRISONBURG – A nearly $300,000 grant will allow James Madison University and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County to continue research on the best ways to maximize success for the “littles” served by the nonprofit mentoring program.
The research, which began in 2011 with a two-year, $438,229 grant from the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, is specifically examining the impact of mentor training on children in the BBBS program.
Photo: Big Bothers Big Sisters mentor (also known in the organization as a “big”) Amanda Lutz, and Evan Geisler, a “little,” spend some time together at the Dream Come True Playground last week. James Madison University and the BBBS of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County received a grant to continue research on effects mentoring has on children. (Photos by Jason Lenhart/Daily News-Record)
“Because there are different trainings, we want to really look at efficacy,” said Sue Totty, executive director of the local BBBS chapter. “Are there particular [training exercises] that resonant more with the overall pool than others, and if so do we want to require [that] training for all of our `bigs?'”
Big Brothers Big Sisters is a national mentoring program that matches mentors, called “bigs,” with area children known as “littles.” The Harrisonburg and Rockingham County chapter, which currently oversees about 750 matches, is the largest in the state.
The new grant, totaling $299,221, will allow the local chapter to continue research and make 103 new matches in 2014.
Totty said the research, which is being conducted by JMU’s Applied Research and Evaluation Team, has focused on “bigs” over the past two years, during which they’ve completed different kinds of training exercises.
The next several years will focus on examining the program’s long-term benefits for children and trying to make a correlation between training and student outcomes, Totty said.
Photo: Big Bothers Big Sisters “little” Evan Geisler launches off the swings as “big” Amanda Lutz watches during a visit to the Dream Come True Playground in Harrisonburg last week.
“We know that the benefits of mentoring often increase over time,” said Liliokanaio Peaslee, who works for JMU’s Applied Research and Evaluation Team. “This project affords us the opportunity to assess the possibility of more meaningful impacts of BBBS on at-risk youth as they enter adulthood.”
Researchers have created a new pilot survey designed specifically for children under 9 years old. The survey will help them with the next portion of their research, Totty said.
While a tool called the Youth Outcome Survey already tracks educational success, socio-emotional competency and self-confidence among children 9 years and older, the new survey will allow the chapter to gather even more information on younger children in the program.
The information about the students is a valuable tool in learning the most efficient and best way to benefit mentees, Totty said.
“We can look to see exactly how successful kids are over the course of time; whether they’re still in our program or not,” Totty said. “As we move into this next four years there will be less emphasis on the `bigs’ and more emphasis on looking at the data that we’re collecting on the `littles.'”
Contact Emily Sharrer at 574-6286 or [email protected]