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BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS
OF SOUTH TEXAS
Address: 202 Baltimore, San Antonio, Texas 78215
Phone Number: (202) 225-6322  Email: Info@BigMentor.Org

[ Successful Outcomes ]  [ Leadership ]  [ Staff ]  [ Community Partners ]

Mission
Big Brothers Big Sisters promotes the positive development of at-risk youth from single-parent families by providing opportunities for them to experience healthy, one-to-one relationships with caring volunteers.

History
Ernest Coulter, a court clerk from New York City, started New York Big Brothers, which would later become Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. The suffering and misery of the thousands of children who came through the court increasingly appalled him. So in late 1904, Coulter appeared before a group of civic and business leaders. He recruited influential men to mentor delinquent boys who came before him. He described a boy about to be jailed:

"There is only one way to save that youngster, and that is to have some earnest, true man volunteer to be his Big Brother, to look after him, help him do right, make the little chap feel that there is at least one human being in this great city who takes a personal interest in him. Someone who cares whether he lives or dies. I call for a volunteer!"

Before he had finished encouraging his fellow community members to befriend this child in a one-to-one relationship, Ernest Coulter motivated nearly 40 men to volunteer their time to help troubled youth. Coulter was the first individual to use the term Big Brother in connection with this preventative movement.

Since 1978, dedicated volunteers in the San Antonio Area have worked together to help children from single-parent families by matching them with role models to provide support, guidance, and friendship. We opened a satellite office in Kerrville, Texas in 1996 to meet the needs of at-risk youth in Kerr County. We expanded again in 2000 and opened branches in New Braunfels and Seguin through a grant from the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services to reach the at-risk youth in Guadalupe and Comal Counties.

On average, the agency serves more than 1300 youth each year.

[ Successful Outcomes ]  [ Leadership ]  [ Staff ]  [ Community Partners ]