History

Mission statement: Providing children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported, one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. 

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta (BBBS) has been serving the Metro Atlanta area for nearly fifty years. Our goal is to enrich children’s lives and provide a solid foundation to allow the next generation to be all they can be—one child at a time.

The Atlanta organization’s rich history is built on a national heritage more than 100 years old.  BBBS was founded for the sole purpose of enriching the lives of children and helping them achieve their full potential through professionally-supported, one-to-one mentoring relationships. We know that with your help, this process works.

In 1904, a young New York City court clerk named Ernest Coulter was seeing more and more young boys come through his courtroom. He recognized that caring adults could help many of these youths stay out of trouble, so he set out to find volunteers to be the supportive friends and role models needed to help parents and children have the best opportunity to succeed in life. This marked the beginning of the “Big Brothers” movement. In only 12 years, Big Brothers had spread across the country and was solidly in place in 96 cities.

At around the same time, the members of a group called “Ladies of Charity” were making friends with young girls who had come through the New York Children’s Court. This group later became “Catholic Big Sisters.”  Both groups worked independently until 1977, when “Big Brothers of America” and “Big Sisters International” joined forces and became “Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.”

More than a century later, Big Brothers Big Sisters remains true to our founders’ vision of bringing caring mentors into the lives of children. Big Brothers Big Sisters currently operates in all 50 states … and in 35 countries around the world!

The greater metro Atlanta organization is one of the most successful and diverse chapters  of Big Brothers Big Sisters, and we are proud to continue to build Atlanta’s future by helping children be the best they can be—one child at a time.