After years of financial struggle, the Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Hampton Roads organization has shut down and transferred its services to another local agency.
Mark Lobell, the volunteer head of the local Big Brothers Big Sisters group , said the 180 local children currently matched with volunteer adult mentors will continue the service with The Up Center, a nonprofit social service agency based in South Hampton Roads.
The Up Center made the announcement Monday. If that agency had not stepped in, the program likely would have ended.
“We have had some very tough times struggling with continuity of funding,” Lobell said Monday. “We believe this opportunity will be more cost-effective and will be a better opportunity for the kids.”
Lobell would not comment on the organization’s financial situation , but said the agency is working closely with The Up Center and the United Way of South Hampton Roads to make the transition.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Hampton Roads was a United Way agency that had been coordinating mentorships for school-age children since the 1970s.
Edward Welp, president and CEO of The Up Center, estimated the annual cost of the program will be $250,000 to $300,000, for training the mentors and coordinating the relationships. United Way of South Hampton Roads will provide $146,000 of that amount. The rest will come from private donations and The Up Center’s $10 million annual budget.
Welp said one of the two remaining employees who ran the Big Brothers Big Sisters agency in Virginia Beach will transfer to The Up Center, which has offices in Norfolk, Franklin, Portsmouth and Suffolk. The other employee had already planned to leave the area .
Mike Hughes, president and CEO of United Way of South Hampton Roads, said the local Big Brothers Big Sisters agency had struggled for years under several directors.
“They couldn’t develop the revenue stream needed for the budget,” he said. “We wanted to maintain the relationships that had developed, some of which have been going on for years.”
Hughes said the United Way had gone from providing about a third of the agency’s budget a few years ago to about 90 percent toward the end of last year, as contributions waned.
A Big Brothers Big Sisters organization in Williamsburg was contacted to see whether it could take on the local mentorships, but in the end, the Big Brothers Big Sisters board thought it best to transfer services to The Up Center, Hughes said.
Lobell said the national Big Brothers Big Sisters requirements had become cumbersome to maintain, but would not elaborate.
A spokeswoman from the national office confirmed the local Big Brothers Big Sisters agency had asked to be withdrawn from the national organization, which has about 400 agencies across the country.
The Up Center, which was formerly named Child & Family Services of Eastern Virginia, provides services such as financial counseling, foster care, and health programs to families throughout Hampton Roads. The mentoring program will be called Team Up.
The social service agency already has experience with mentorship programs, Welp said. “This fits our mission of helping people better their lives,” he said.
Elizabeth Simpson, (757) 446-2635, elizabeth.simpson@pilotonline.com