African American children need and deserve a champion

Sept. 13, 2010 - PRLog -- There are currently 2,818 children on the Big Brothers Big Sisters waitlist in the Portland and Vancouver metropolitan area; 446 of these children are African American. With a drop-out rate fast approaching seven percent in Oregon and the prospect of jail six times more likely than for whites, African American children need and deserve a champion.

In an effort to provide more African American children with African American volunteer mentors, Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest will host the 2nd annual African American Evening of Impact fundraising event. The event is Thursday, September 30, 2010 at the Rose Room at the Rose Quarter. The media is invited to RSVP by September 29 to Abby Herrera (503) 943-5773. The public is invited to RSVP to (impact.2010@bbbs.org) by September 28. Over 200 local African American community and business leaders are expected to attend the event.

Making this event infinitely more possible are the corporate sponsors: Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Fred Meyer and Legacy Health.

The goals of the event include: generating funds to support the African American Mentoring Program, generating new volunteers and sharing the stories of the agency’s local impact in the African American community. It costs Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest $1,000 per year to support a volunteer and child.

Margaret Bernstein, a national leader on the topic of African American male recruitment will be the keynote speaker at the event.  As a reporter for Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer; National Big Sister of Year 2000; Big Sister to two girls; and co-author of The Bond: Three Young Men Learn to Forgive and Reconnect with their Fathers, Ms. Bernstein believes that in order to recruit more African American men to mentor, members of the African American community must act as ambassadors, urging other African American men to promote the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and also nominate positive male role models in the community to step-up and mentor.

Big Brother Earl stepped up twice: first as a mentor to Little Brother Jeff until graduation, and now as a mentor to Jeff’s brother Bobby.

As a 16-year-old child living in foster care, Jeff never thought he would graduate high school, but he did. He is the only member of his family to accomplish this goal.

“I know some of you are wondering if you have what is takes to be a Big Brother or Big Sister,” says Earl. “You do. How much time do we spend vegging out on the TV? Think about all of the time we waste. Use that time to shoot hoops. Use the time to talk to a child.  Use the time to make a difference.”

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Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest is a volunteer and donor-supported
organization that helps children reach their potential through life changing friendships that have a measurable impact. In 2009, the agency supported 3,051 children.