Photograph by Dilip Vishwanat
Fourteen years ago, Becky James-Hatter took over the reins at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri, part of the national organization that has been mentoring young people for more than a century. The organization has grown under James-Hatter's leadership — it is currently the 14th largest chapter in the country and ranks first in retention — and this month it will take a major step in its history: moving into its new 25,000-square-foot headquarters in the old Woolworth Building in Grand Center, complete with space for performance theaters, an art gallery and a bistro. Forging the deal involved teams of lawyers and wrangling with historic tax credits, developers and issues James-Hatter had never encountered.
St. Louis is already considered a "standout" model chapter by its parent organization — providing 2,300 adult-child pairings last year — but James-Hatter says there is much more to be done; she's shooting for 10,000 pairings per year. And while some may equate the organization simply with lighthearted trips to baseball games or movies, the executive at the helm says these relationships between "littles" and "bigs" have tremendous power to help lift children out of poverty, keep them in school and propel them toward happier, healthier, wealthier lives.
So can Big Brothers really make a difference in children's lives? That's our vision: To change these children's lives forever and for the better.
How do you do that? The mission, the one we wake up with every morning, is to put a mentor in the life of every child who wants one. The vision is to change the lives of children forever and for better. So the next question is, How do we measure that?
How do you measure it? There are four areas that everyone agrees on. We all agree that we want educated citizens, safe neighborhoods, healthy families and a reliable and productive workforce. What is our contribution to those four areas? In education, we are making sure that our little brothers are attending school, behave in school and are succeeding in school, particularly in reading and math. That would be an enormous contribution to the collective effort to create a community of educated citizens. In public safety or safe neighborhoods, our contribution is to make sure our little brothers and sisters stay out of the juvenile justice system. The entrée to the adult system is the juvenile system. We can create a much safer neighborhood if we make sure we keep them out of the adult justice system. A productive and reliable workforce: We are looking at whether our little brothers and little sisters are graduating on time and their ability to go into the workforce. In the area of health and well-being, we are most interested in issues around mental health. How are little brothers and little sisters feeling about themselves? Are they self-confident? We are also looking at teenage pregnancy and public safety as a whole. These are things we are starting to monitor and work with schools, the court system and families to measure.
My perception was that this was just a really nice mentoring organization. But actually, it seems far more involved. For instance, you help children adjust to a parent returning from prison or get eyeglasses if they need them. Is mine a common misperception? It's absolutely a misperception that we run up against. But we really are creating enormous value and change in the communities. If the nonprofit sector did not exist, I don't know who would do this work. We haven't talked enough about the real outcomes that we are accomplishing. The onus is on us to tell that story.
Is this an issue of "How can you tell if you are doing any good?" The general public doesn't understand how a friendship can change a child's life. Friendship seems so light until people think about their own friendships and the value that they bring to their lives. If we took away all your friendships and relationships, you wouldn't be left with much. Friendships and relationships, if done right and done well, will have the most powerful impact on us throughout our lives, in our businesses and our communities.
Can you give me some examples of relationships that have made a difference in the lives of littles? I'm thinking about a child who keeps getting into fights at school, and then he gets detention, and then he gets suspended. A big brother walks into that little brother's life and says, "What's up, man? Why are you doing all that fighting?" The little brother hasn't even thought about why he's fighting. The big brother says, "You're cool the way you are." And the little brother seemingly magically stops fighting.
You've seen that happen? Absolutely, I have seen it happen. I'm thinking of one I heard yesterday. He is an adolescent, 12 years old, fighting all the time. He has been physically fighting for attention all his life. And a big brother comes into his life and says, "Hey, you're the coolest guy I've ever met. You're significant and you don't have to do all those things." And all the sudden he can stop fighting and relax. He's no longer the bully at school. He's not getting suspended, and his mom doesn't have to worry about him being out of school. Instead he's in school, and he's making good grades. We see that all the time.
Are there key issues that come up for every little you serve? A sense of belonging is very important. Knowing that you belong to something good or important, a family or a neighborhood. Someone once asked me, "Who is your biggest competition?" I said, "Gangs are my biggest competition." If we don't give kids a place to belong that is good and healthy, they will find a sense of belonging with some other group that isn't good or healthy.
What else? A sense of significance, knowing you are important, worthy, that you matter, that you are loved. If you take away someone's sense of significance, they are left with nothing. If you are told on a day-to-day basis, "Nobody cares about you; you don't matter," you begin to believe it. There are a lot of children who become adults who deal with that lack of significance. The kids who are the most vulnerable experience that even more so. A volunteer big brother or big sister can tell that child just by coming to pick him or her up every week or visit them in school, "You are important enough to me that I want to be with you. I care about you."
What other issues are there? A sense of competence, having something you believe you are good at. Whether it is basketball, art, debate, Little League, math problems or chess, bigs can many times help kids figure out what they're good at and feel better about themselves. It builds self-confidence and self-esteem, and it softens that other side. If we can do that, they can go to school and learn. If not, that creates an emotional dropout system, and they can't engage. They're emotionally exhausted.
What are your biggest problems as CEO? [Long pause] Today it's different than it was 14 years ago when I became CEO. Then, our budget was $300,000 a year. Now our budget is $3.2 million. In some ways, I still worry about the same things. Are we really fulfilling the mission? It's so easy to worry about money, buildings, board development. The challenge is not to forget about the mission, the vision and the values of the organization. I've been in Missouri only 14 years, but I've become a Show-Me person. Do we have the data to prove that we are doing good?
You're telling me you don't lie awake at night worrying about fundraising or something like that? I can always worry about infrastructure at any organization. But we have only one word in our value system: accountability. Right now in Eastern Missouri, we are carrying the highest rate of retention among our matches: 70 percent celebrate their first anniversary together. That's the highest in the nation. We believe in our mission, vision and value. That's why I worry about it.
Can you think of an instance when you weren't meeting those criteria? Yes. We were looking great in the number of matches at schools we were in. But we asked how long were those relationships lasting and were they making a difference in littles' lives? It wasn't working. So we stopped making matches and studied the problem. We lightened the caseload of the staff, and we looked at the volunteers to see if they had a sense of fulfillment. If they don't have that, they won't stay. We worked with those issues.
What does each match cost? It costs the organization between $1,000 and $1,200 to make and support a match. The volunteers may spend additional money themselves.
Is St. Louis generous with financial support? Extraordinarily.
Are you just saying that because you know that donors will be reading this? [Shaking her head vigorously] No, no, no, no. St. Louis is extremely generous, and we're not even the largest city in the nation.
Can you talk about the Amachi program, which pairs children of inmates with mentors? Today there are 60,000 children in Missouri with a parent in a state prison. There are another 100,000 children who have had a parent on probation or parole. We know that 70 percent of these children are likely to go to prison themselves. The numbers are not good. So we have targeted those kids for the past four years.
What are your results? We have 300 matches. Fifty-nine percent of the kids have higher grades, and parents report that 92 percent are showing a greater sense of trust in their big brother or sister. We saw changes in how kids perceived their future. They are thinking, "I can be somebody."
What do you need for this program? We always need more volunteers and more money.
You've said creating your new headquarters has been a huge endeavor. I never knew I was signing up to be a leading partner in a $14 million historical gut-rehab. It was as overwhelming and daunting a project as I've ever done. But it's what I had to do to serve the kids.
Why? We need more space for staff, volunteers and to serve kids. With our other tenants, such as the Kranzberg Cultural Arts Center and Craft Alliance, the kids can be exposed to more. Thirty percent of our active matches are teenagers. Now we will have a space where we can have rich conversations that facilitate relationships and enhance interactions.
How will you know if you're successful? Every decision you make has to be against your mission, vision and values. Am I going to get that mission accomplished in our lifetimes? No. But it's worth fighting for.
