Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) has been active in Southeast New Mexico for “many, many years,” said Brenda Dorsey, program coordinator and vice president of rural programs for BBBS of Central New Mexico.
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, didn’t spare the youth mentoring program, she said.
“It kind of fell apart a little bit,” Dorsey said.
In response, the BBBS of Southeast New Mexico was merged with BBBS of Central New Mexico. Dorsey said BBBS of Central New Mexico, based in Albuquerque, is able to provide a human resources department, leadership and accounting services.
“We have started re-instating the programs,” she said. “The BBBS program is alive and well.”
Dorsey said BBBS in the Roswell area is a site-based program, based in local elementary and high schools.
School-based volunteers provide each child one hour a week of mentoring, she said, teaching social skills and academic areas of need.
Dorsey said BBBS currently has 75 matches in Southeast New Mexico, of which about 60 are school-based.
In the Roswell Independent School District, Roswell and University high schools are involved in the program, Dorsey said, as are Valley View, Monterrey and East Grand Plains elementary schools.
She said Roswell High students who are mentoring younger students are given passes that allow them to drive to Valley View Elementary, while mentors from the University High School are transported to East Grand Plains Elementary.
Dorsey said the high school students learn leadership skills and résumé building.
“It can also be a job reference for them if they do well with us,” Dorsey said.
She said scholarships are also available for high school students who take part in the program.
Dorsey said BBBS also has a community-based program that includes adults mentoring youth. Such mentors must have graduated high school, she said, but they can be of any age. She…
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