About Us
We’re 100% Invested in Girls
Igniting girls' passion and power to succeed through positive mentoring relationships
Our professional staff use established, research-based practices to train and support our Big and Little Sisters. Our approach results in profound outcomes in academic achievement, interpersonal relationships, and healthy decision-making. We invest in 2,500 girls and women throughout Greater Boston annually.
Read our newsletters to stay up to date on all things Big Sister Boston!
Mission & Vision
Our mission is to ignite girls’ passion and power to succeed through positive mentoring relationships with women and enrichment programs that support girls’ healthy development. Ultimately, our vision is to create a mentor-rich community in which every girl has access to the individual nurturing, guidance, and support she needs to become a confident, competent and caring adult. We are a national model for gender-intentional mentoring for girls which can be replicated in other mentoring programs.
Nationally Recognized
Big Sister Boston is proud to be recognized by Big Brothers Big Sisters of America as the 2015 national Agency of the Year for our substantial growth in the number of children served, quality and length of mentoring relationships, and increased revenues that support our agency financially. We also received a 2022 Quality Award in recognition of the strength and duration of the matches we make and support. We believe that all children can benefit from the care and guidance of an adult mentor, and that when girls’ unique needs are addressed, they thrive with increased confidence, improved relationships and the ability to achieve their individual goals. We are part of a network of 250 Big Brothers Big Sisters of America agencies. We are the only affiliate solely serving girls.
Our Values
We believe we can only do our work effectively if we value:
Community: A diverse constituency of stakeholders with joint ownership and collaborative participation in the vision and mission
Courageous Communication: Taking a risk, challenging norms, asking questions, owning our intent and our impact, listening, and seeking and accepting feedback in order to improve outcomes
Cultural Responsiveness: Genuinely embracing, working with, and continually learning about cultural differences
Empowerment, Learning: Through curiosity, humility, and rigor, we increase autonomy and self-determination in order to represent one’s interests in a responsible way
Equity: Striving for a fair, just, and healthy society where girls of diverse racial, social, and economic backgrounds have equal access to opportunities
Sisterhood: Building across individual and collective differences to foster relationships that honor past and future generations of women and girls who are committed to each other’s success
Stewardship: Fostering a lasting, caring connection between our community and the resources we need to achieve our mission
History
Big Sister Association of Greater Boston was founded in 1951 by the Reverend Harold Taylor, Assistant Rector at Christ Church in Cambridge; Edith Taylor, a Cambridge police officer; and Frances Marley, an administrative assistant and legal consultant for the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Believing that girls in the community could benefit from the guidance and support of an older female friend, they created a one-to-one mentoring program where girls (Little Sisters) were individually matched with caring and committed volunteers (Big Sisters). In our first year, we matched six girls.
70th Anniversary Honorees
A big part of our history are the people who helped get us to 70 years strong. They are members of the Big Sister Boston community who have given their time, talent, or treasure to believing in girls.
Click on the tiles in the mosaic below to see who our honorees are and read quotes from many of them about why they believe in Big Sister Boston!
Service Area
Our Team
We are a community of dedicated leaders, ambassadors, and advocates focused on elevating and amplifying the voices of girls and women. We hold diversity, equity, and inclusion as core values; we do not discriminate against people based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, sex, nationality, ability, age, gender identity, and gender expression. Learn more about our work.
We could not achieve this impact without the work of our:
