Our Mission
Our mission is to help children in need reach their potential through professionally-supported, one-to-one mentoring relationships.
With 40 years of service and experience, our goals are clear:
• Strengthen the social, emotional, cognitive and behavioral competencies of children living in Missoula;
• Improve the children’s commitment to school and to academic achievement;
• Improve the children’s understanding of healthy standards of behavior;
• Improve each child’s resilience, self-esteem and sense of the future; and
• Strengthen each child’s sense of self-worth.
Our Vision
Our vision is to provide a mentor for every child who needs or wants one. Be a Friend, be a mentor, just be there!
Programs
Our Community-Based Mentoring Program matches one adult volunteer to one child with a time commitment of 2-3 hours per week. There is no experience required, just a desire to have fun and build a friendship with a child. The volunteer mentor, the child, and his or his parent/guardian make a one year commitment to the relationship. The community program partners with businesses in the Missoula area offering discount recreational activities for matches. A sub-set of our community-based service is our Mentoring Children of Prisoners program. Missoula BBBS has developed a model approach to providing mentoring services to children of incarcerated parents, which has been nationally recognized as effective in serving this high-risk group of children.
Through our School-Based Program, volunteers provide fun and support to children after school. Matches involved in this program meet one afternoon a week at the child’s school. While a mentor may spend time helping the child with schoolwork, the focus is on providing friendship and emotional support. Typically this involves reading for pleasure, playing educational games, or just sitting and talking. Current school partners include Franklin Elementary School, Hawthorne Elementary School, Lewis and Clark Elementary School, Russell Elementary School, and Porter Middle School.