MAKING A BIG IMPACT WITH A LITTLE humanity

How human-in-the-loop AI is helping Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America meet their mentoring mission

- 

For the nation’s preeminent one-to-one youth mentoring organization, It Takes Little to be Big.

"Our mission is to ensure every child has the support, guidance, and opportunities they need to thrive, regardless of their background or circumstances, and so by matching adult mentors we help shape brighter futures through positive relationships, trust, and consistent support," according to Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America’s CTO Travis Gibson.

"I was drawn here just because of its profound impact on young lives and the opportunity to leverage technology to amplify that impact."

For 120 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) has helped young people realize their full potential. Today, through a network of 30,000 volunteers working in over 5,000 communities throughout the country, Big Brothers Big Sisters helps create a future where all young people are empowered with a plan for their future and a mentor whose impact lasts a lifetime.

By partnering with parents, guardians, volunteers, and others in the community, the organization is committed to guiding young people to achieve higher aspirations, greater confidence, better relationships, avoidance of risky behaviors, and educational success. Meaningful monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and young people (“Littles”), ages 5 through young adulthood is indispensable to their cause.

Gibson’s mandate is to modernize the organization’s technology ecosystem to better serve their agencies, volunteers, and the youth they mentor. That means addressing cybersecurity risks, reducing technical debt, and improving their capabilities while also harnessing emerging technologies such as human-in-the-loop Al (HITL) to transform volunteer engagement, match mentors and mentees, and support strategic decision-making.