Case Study: Big Sister Association of Greater Boston

Posted Thursday, February 15th, 2018 by Sterling Volunteers Staff

Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, founded in 1951, serves 69 cities and towns throughout the Greater Boston area. The organization strives to ignite girls’ passion and power to succeed through positive mentoring relationships with women and enrichment programs that support girls’ healthy development. Their approach results in a formidable impact on academic achievement, interpersonal relationships and healthy decision-making for more than 2,700 girls annually. The goal of the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston is to connect 700 women mentors with girls throughout the Boston area each year. Mentors are matched in a one-to-one relationship with a Little Sisters between the age of 7-15 for either Community-Based Mentoring or Site-Based Mentoring programs to develop a rewarding friendship based on having fun, learning and growing together.

To ensure a safe environment for girls, the national Big Brothers Big Sisters of America organization updated its screening policy directive in 2016 to have a more layered background check approach. Sterling Volunteers was rolled out to Big Sister Boston volunteers early in 2017 to streamline background screening and expedite volunteers through the Big Sister Boston onboarding process. Click on the image below to find out more about how the implementation of the layered approach has helped the organization and its volunteers have an easier and more comprehensive screening process.