Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Iowa board of directors announces program closing

To The Press

The board of directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Iowa announced Monday that its one-to-one child mentoring program would end on Aug. 31 because of funding shortfalls.

The board’s announcement said it was “incredibly heartbroken” to have to make the decision “after serving thousands of children in Northeast Iowa for the past 57 years.”

“Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Iowa has faced a critical budget shortfall for some time,” the announcement said. “Over the last two years, annual state, federal and private grants were cut by approximately $350,000.”

COVID-19 concerns caused programming and outings to be canceled for several months, and forced all 2020 fundraising events to be canceled, the press release said.

“This leaves a significant funding gap for program operations and an extreme challenge to keep Littles engaged for an extended time without the face-to-face interactions needed for effective one-to-one mentoring,” it said.

The group said it had made a public plea for donations in February and had begun a marketing plan, but then the coronavirus pandemic happened, affecting donations, funding applications and previously scheduled fundraisers.

In March, the group announced it had entered a three-year restructuring plan. At that time it closed the regional offices in six of its counties, including the Charles City office in Floyd County.

“It’s more fiscally responsible to have us traveling into those locations and spending a couple of days there as opposed to operating an entire office,” Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Iowa Director Yolanda Williams said then.

“The location wasn’t the problem. Our funding right now and our sustainability didn’t support having that space open,” Williams said in March.

Jessica Love, board president of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Iowa, on Monday said, “We have explored every option available to us to keep our Littles and Bigs connected during the COVID-19 pandemic in safe ways.

“We, along with many other businesses in our service area, did not know how the virus would impact this on-going economic crisis. This decision was extremely difficult to make, but at this time we have exhausted all options, and the decision is necessary,” Love said.

The organization thanked “the thousands of individuals who have supported our organization over the past 57 years.”

“Countless donors, volunteers, businesses and employees made it possible to foster mentorships for some 15,000-plus children in our community. Your generosity made an immeasurable difference in the lives of children, and undoubtedly changed the lives of their Bigs as well,” it said.

The group also thanked the 185 children who had been currently matched with mentors in the program, and apologized for not being able to continue the relationship and urged them to seek out other youth-focused non-profit mentoring opportunities in northeast Iowa.