Kyleah Wallace

Small Group Mentoring

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Snohomish County

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Partner Organization Team Members Timeline Location

Big Brothers Big Alyne Van Winkle August 2022 - April Snohomish County
Sisters of America -Program Director, 2023 YMCA Branch
(Snohomish County Supervisor (Everett WA).
Branch) Planning started in
Parker Day -Case August 2022, 4730 Colby Ave,
Manager, Mentor U program was Everett, WA 98203
lead implemented in
January 2023
Kim Gaffney -
Executive Director
THE OUTCOME
For my internship I partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Big Brothers Big Sisters of
America is a 501 non-profit organization whose mission is to "create and support
one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth". Adult
volunteers are matched with children from age 5 to young adulthood. I created a new
program called Small Group Mentoring. This program is for the Bigs and Littles who are on
our waitlist, meaning they are still waiting to be matched for the program but they have
been accepted.

THE PROCESS
I created this program using the Human Center of Design approach. This meant that I
looked closely at my inspirations, I used ideations and then I utilized all my work in those
sections to then develop and implement my project. This system allowed me to be very
through and intentional every step of the way. These are the steps that I took to create the
Small Group Mentoring Program.

Inspiration
The inspiration phase of the HCD model includes; identifying design challenges, conducting
secondary research, conducting surveys and interviews, developing a recruitment strategy,
implementing an immersion activity and lastly capturing my learning through team
meetings. My biggest take away from this section of the project was identifying the problem
that I was going to be addressing. This is an essential part of the process because every
step is built towards solving the problem. The problem that I identified at my internship
was our waitlist. We had over 80 Littles waiting to be matched, some of which had been
waiting close to 2 years. These Littles were eager to get their Big and get involved in the
program, but without volunteers to serve as Bigs these Littles were left on the waitlist.
Some Littles eventually lost interest in the mentorship after waiting for so long, others

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unfortunately aged out of the program requirements. I was inspired to do something to
help our Littles who are awaiting a match to feel included while they are on the waitlist.

Ideation
The next phase of the Human Center of Design approach was ideation. During this phase I
worked on; generating ideas, selecting an idea, creating a rapid prototype, getting feedback
and retirement, iterating ideas, developing a design and lastly creating pitch. Some ideas
that I had right off the bat were hosting events for waitlisted Littles to attend so they feel
included. I also wanted to include the community in these activities to bring awareness to
the program. I wanted to utilize social media to highlight some of our Littles who are on the
waitlist. With all this in mind, I helped create a new BBBS program called Small Group
Mentoring. Small Group Mentoring is a group mentoring program designed to address the
needs of Littles awaiting a one-to-one match and engaging our Bigs. It provides Bigs and
Littles the opportunity to participate in facilitated group mentoring activities. All children
and volunteers accepted into our program can immediately become members until
matched in the Community-Based program. My biggest takeaway from this step in the
process was how to create a program. I had no experience in creating a program and have
never attended a type of program like this before. To gain knowledge I did a lot of research
about working with children in a trauma informed way. I also started volunteering at other
youth programs and speaking with program directors to figure out how they create their
programs and to get their input on my program. Once I had my program outlined I met
with the teen director Sam Toft, who evaluated my outline and helped me develop my
program further.

Implementation
The final phase of the Human Center of Design approach was Implementation. During this
phase I worked on the following; creating a roadmap to success, creating a funding
strategy, creating an evaluation plan, creating a pilot, sustainable revenue, creating
partnerships, learning to optimize and adapt and lastly exploring scalability. Once I had my
program written, it was time to make it happen. It started out with reserving room space at
the YMCA. I sent out emails, created sign up lists, made social media posts, sent out texts,
everything I could possibly do to get the word out. I helped to implement sponsorships with

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outside organizations for funding. I created partnerships with outside organizations to have
them come in and work directly with the children. I learned the most during this step of the
process. I truly had so much professional development and growth during this process. I
learned how to coordinate events with other organizations. I learned how to be a strong
advocate for an issue I am passionate about resolving and how to spread awareness as
well. I learned how to adapt and make the most out of the resources that I had. I learned
how to be trauma informed in my approach when working with children. Most importantly I
learned that I will make a great educator in the future.

IMPACT AND EVALUATION

Small Group Mentoring was created to meet the needs of our Bigs and Littles who are
awaiting their own 1 to 1 mentorship. Small Group Mentoring is a program that hosts
monthly activities directed by BBBS staff that allow waiting Bigs and Littles to get together
and bond while also engaging in community driven activities.

Impact
For Small Group Mentoring we had the capacity to have 5 Bigs and 20 Littles attend each
activity. During January, we had 7 Littles (ages 5-11), 2 Littles (ages 12-18) and no Bigs in
attendance. In February, we had 14 Littles (ages 5-11), 6 Littles (ages 12-18) and 2 Bigs in
attendance. During March, we had 18 Littles (ages 5-11), 4 Littles (ages 12-18) and 3 Bigs in
attendance. During April, we had 20 Littles (ages 5-11), 4 Littles (ages 12-18) and 4 Bigs in
attendance. We were able to build the reputation of this program and progressively grow
over the months that we were operating, especially with the younger group.

Evaluation
Goal #1 - Build Partnerships with outside organizations. Have outside organizations lead a Small Group Mentoring
Activity

We met this goal in February when we had Lauren Hunter from STEM YMCA come out and
lead two activities. For ages 5-11 she led a boat competition. Lauren taught the Littles about

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using a scientific approach to engineering. The Littles then worked with the Bigs and used
limited resources to build their own boats. At the end of the day we tested the boats to see
which ones would float. For ages 12-18 she led an engineering bridges competition. Lauren
taught the LIttles about using a scientific approach to engineering. The Littles then worked
with the Bigs and used limited resources to build their own bridges. At the end of the day
we used weights to see which bridges would withstand the weight. We had 2 bridges that
held over 60 pounds!

We also met this goal again in March when we had New York Life Insurance come out and
lead two activities. For ages 5-11 they created ID cards for the Littles with their pictures and
basic information. They then talked to the Littles about general safety and awareness. For
ages 12-18 they led a financial literacy presentation that was open to families as well. This
was so successful that we are having them come back for a college readiness seminar in
May and a general savings seminar in June.

Goal #2 - Create matches from Bigs and Littles who have a connection during Small Group Mentoring

We met this goal by matching two Littles/Bigs. We average anywhere from 4-8 matches a
month in the entire organization, so having two of these matches result from Small Group
Mentoring was a great achievement especially since we were still struggling to get Bigs
engaged in this program.

Goal #2 - Weekly posts highlighting waiting Littles

We met this goal as we have posted on Instagram for 30 weeks straight. Each Wednesday
we have made a “Waiting Wednesday” post. These posts have the Little’s name, interests,
age and how long they have been waiting. Overtime these posts got more and more
attention and the organization started receiving phone calls from potential volunteers who
felt as if they would be a good match for a Little that they saw on the Instagram post.

Evaluation Summary

Overall this program developed into a great space for Bigs and Littles to get together and
get engaged in their community while getting to know each other. Every month was more

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successful than the next. We had Littles eager to attend each month, we had Bigs who were
able to use this program as a way to get more comfortable as a mentor. We were able to
use social media to increase our program awareness and spread.

SUSTAINABILITY
In Process
The first way that I made this program sustainable was to check each date that I was
scheduling activities. To ensure that I could get the highest attendance I made sure that no
activities landed on Holidays or any special dates/ events. I also got the dates out to families
for the entire year in January so they can plan ahead for the activities that they want to
attend. Financially, I checked in with my program director often to ensure that this program
is something that can be carried on after my internship has come to an end. We are under
budget and are anticipating to have over $500 to carry into the program next year. The
program itself is sustainable because I have each part of the activities for each event
strategically planned out. I created a specific schedule that is to be followed for each event
including introductions, ice breakers, transitions, activities, clean up, closure, etc. I have
also made sure to incorporate alternate activities in case there is something that comes up
where activities need to be changed.

Moving Forward
Moving forward this program will grow to become a vital step in the mentorship process at
Big Brothers Big Sisters. This program is important because it meets the needs of the Bigs
and Littles immediately as they are waiting for their matches. This program is very fluid and
changes depending on the needs of those who are attending.

Moving Beyond
My vision for Small Group Mentoring involves a lot more community engagement. First, in
an ideal world there wouldn’t be a need for this program at all. Because in an ideal world
there would be a perfect match for every Little and Bigs, but because this isn’t possible

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Small Group Mentoring is a great alternative. My vision involves having the full 5 Bigs at
each event, I would love to have more volunteers helping out. My vision is also to have
more outside organizations coming out and leading events. This is such a great opportunity
for Littles, especially because most of them would never get the opportunity to do some of
these things outside this program.

Linked below is the entirety of the program that I wrote for Small Group Mentoring.

https://ymcasnoco-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/r/personal/kwallace_bbbs-snoco_org/_layouts/1
5/doc2.aspx?sourcedoc=%7BB7590E12-A9D4-416B-B7CB-854E8C0AEA93%7d
File=SGM%20Activity%20Suggestions%20-%20Copy.docx&action=default&mobileredirect=tr
ue&DefaultItemOpen=1&cid=4ab7a84f-9677-4125-b4ea-a5e1ef0b5437