Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lorain County Mentoring Programs

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lorain County Mentoring Programs offers career and college readiness programming as part of its one-on-one mentoring relationships. The program provides professionally supported matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children and youth (“Littles”) in communities across Lorain County. These mentoring relationships are supported through recruitment, orientation, pre-match training, post-match training, in-service training, and ongoing evaluation and supervision.

• Ages: 6–18 years old
• Schedule: General office hours Monday–Friday 9am–5pm, with weekends and after-hours available by appointment

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lorain County Mentoring Programs has been helping children and youth since it was founded in 1994 by Leadership Lorain County and has operated for the past 30 years. The overarching goal of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lorain County for the past 30 years has been to help children and youth facing adversity achieve measurable outcomes leading to lifelong success. Mentors are trained by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lorain County staff in protective and risk factors, child safety, recognizing child abuse, youth development, communications, limit-setting, relationship-building, social and emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, and opioid impacts and preventions. The program uses evidence-based practices to work toward measurable outcomes in educational success, improved attitudes and competencies, and risky behavior avoidance, and it supports critical social and emotional development to build resilience and promote mental health and well-being. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lorain County uses extensive screening procedures for mentors, including criminal background checks, personal references, employment status checks, and home studies. The organization is led by President & CEO Holly C. Brinda.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lorain County is an affiliate of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and its model is recognized as an evidence-based program. It is a certified prevention service provider by the Ohio Mental Health Addiction Services Board and holds two federal grants and one state grant to address the needs of high-risk youth in the areas of opioid exposure and delinquency prevention. The organization is a prevention service provider affiliate of the Lorain County Mental Health Addiction Services Board and works with community partners that provide free match activities to kids, mentors, and parents. It also works in partnership with the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Ohio Department of Youth Services, the Ohio Department of Education, Lorain County Jobs and Family Services, and local law enforcement agencies.

Last updated June 25, 2026.