January is Mentoring Month, spearheaded by the Harvard Mentoring Project of the Harvard School of Public Health, MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership and the Corporation for National and Community Service. Big Brothers Big Sisters is a national partner. The 2009 theme is “Expand Your Universe: Mentor a Child.” The purpose is to encourage mentoring in America. Mentoring for Big Brothers Big Sisters means using a trusted, tested process of matching children in a safe and positive way that demonstrates proven outcomes. The children in our program are more likely to succeed in school, solve problems without violent behavior, and avoid drugs and other illegal activities. Big Brothers Big Sisters helps children change their perspective on what choices to make.  With growing economic pressures on families and communities across San Diego, the need for all citizens to join the movement is urgent. Children are facing risks that lead to soaring dropout rates, violence and crime; what we achieve — how we improve the odds that children will succeed — is extremely relevant. With that in mind, Big Brothers Big Sisters, in recognition of National Mentoring Month, is introducing a way to recognize citizens who support the movement to help our children grow up in America, despite whether their role is mentoring or helping children beat the odds and break negative cycles in some other way. Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors, the “Bigs,” as we call them, are making a remarkable difference in our community. The Bigs in our network are young college students, middle-aged blue-collar workers, corporate managers and executives, retirees, athletes, artists — a diverse group of individuals who care about how our children are growing up in our community and throughout America. But this Mentoring Month, we want the nation to know that the movement works not only because of the Bigs but also because of communities such as ours that support them. You may not be able to be a mentor today but you may know someone who is a shining example of what it means to be a good mentor. We are asking Americans to nominate one or more outstanding individuals for Big Brothers Big Sisters’ first Big Citizen of the Year Award. This honor recognizes that helping children make good choices takes family members, teachers, religious leaders, coaches, neighbors and so many others who want to help our children grow up in America. The Big Citizen of the Year Award is a way to illustrate that many people are making a positive difference in the lives of children. Nominating your favorite mentor is easy; Go to BigBrothersBigSisters.org and give a local unsung hero an opportunity to be recognized nationally. Invite your friends, family members and those on your e-mail lists to vote for him/her. The winner will receive recognition at Big Brothers Big Sisters’ National Conference in Miami and celebrate the honor at a private “Big Celebrity” dinner with professional athletes and actors, philanthropists and business executives who are also members of our movement. This month, we also extend a personal invitation for you to join the movement. There are other ways that you, your family and friends can also become part of the mentoring movement if you are one of the people who think, “I’ve always thought about being a Big Brother or Big Sister, but I’m way too busy.” You may be a person who can share a talent that helps Big Brothers Big Sisters recruit, screen and match hundreds of mentors needed each year for children who wait months for a special friend. You may be someone who was a Little Brother or Little Sister who now can donate money or help with a Big Brothers Big Sisters project.  You may work at a company that believes a focus on community involvement is as important as its profitability.  If you are passionate about children you know, consider spreading that passion to thousands of San Diego’s children. A wonderful example of this is a recent donation made by Harry Singh, a local philanthropist, who gave $50,000 to support Big Brothers Big Sisters Operation Bigs — a program that matches military volunteers with children of deployed parents at four elementary schools on base at Camp Pendleton. One story that demonstrates the value of Harry’s gift is a conversation I had with a mom whose daughter is in the Operation Bigs program. She told me her daughter was acting out and wouldn’t open up to her any- more. Her husband was deployed and they had just relocated to San Diego. Her daughter was feeling uprooted and afraid for her father.  The Operation Bigs’ Match Support Specialist matched her up with a high-ranking female Marine. Several weeks later, that same mother called to thank me for the work we do. She told me her relationship between her daughter and her Big Sister helped her daughter make a great turnaround in her behavior and her willingness to open up about her feelings. That mother, daughter and Big Sister’s lives were changed because Harry Singh believed in the power of one-to-one mentoring and wanted to make sure all the children of our deployed troops had the same opportunity as this little girl and her family. Mentoring is a movement toward a solution for all the things we wish for our community’s children: to be confident, safe, healthy and looking toward a wonderful future. — La Jollan Paul Palmer is the CEO and president of Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County; [email protected]; office: (858) 536-4900 x203; www.SDBigs.org.