Big Brothers of America

BBA is a federation of local agencies which provide supervision and support of professional social workers to volunteer laymen who guide and mentor fatherless boys.

The Big Brother movement began in 1904 at the suggestion of Ernest K. Coulter, clerk of the Children's Court in New York City. Approximately forty members of the Men's Club of the Central Presbyterian Church of New York City each agreed to take a personal interest in one boy who had been brought into the Children's Court. As the program continued to expand, the need arose for more volunteers and for a central headquarters to which boys could be systematically referred. On October 1, 1909, the New York organization incorporated and formally adopted the name "Big Brother Movement." The project also expanded to other religious groups. The Jewish Big Brothers of New York was organized in 1907 and the Catholic Big Brothers of New York was established in 1918.

The success of the Big Brother idea led to the formation of other Big Brother organizations throughout the United States and Canada. Some were affiliated with Catholic, Jewish, or Protestant groups and others were non-sectarian. By 1917, forty Big Brother groups had been incorporated. In the same year, an International Advisory Council was formed at the first annual conference of the Big Brother and Big Sister societies. The Council subsequently established the Big Brother and Big Sister Federation. The Federation adopted the following goals: preventing delinquency through personal, individual, and intensive effort; founding Big Brother and Big Sister agencies in the United States and internationally; dispersing information and advice to existing groups; publishing "theses and education papers" related to the field of Big Brother and Big Sister work; and sponsoring conferences, training courses, and seminars. The Federation dissolved in January, 1937. Because no formal national office for the Big Brother movement existed from 1937 through 1946, inquiries sent to the Federation were normally routed to the office of the Big Brother Movement of Greater New York, of which Joseph McCoy was the general secretary.

In 1940, a National Study and Planning Committee, which was chaired by Kenneth Rogers of Toronto and Joseph McCoy of New York, surveyed Big Brother and Big Sister agencies to collect information about the existing organizations. The committee also planned the structure and functions of a proposed national organization. In the fall of 1945, the Temporary National Big Brother Committee was formed. Joseph McCoy, Kenneth Rogers, Charles Berwind (Philadelphia) and George Casey (Philadelphia) were leaders in the promotion of a national Big Brother organization. The committee decided to conduct a study of fifteen Big Brother agencies in the United States and Canada to determine the extent, techniques, and results of Big Brother services in various cities and to assess interest in a permanent national committee or organization of Big Brother groups. In 1946, the Big Brother Association of Philadelphia hosted a conference at Camp Wyomissing at which the study report presented. Big Brothers of America was incorporated on December 24, 1946, and its office opened in Philadelphia in February, 1947. Charles Berwind was elected president. Initial financing was provided through membership dues of the local Big Brother agencies and by gifts made through Charles Berwind and G. Ruhland Rebmann Jr., who were both active in the Philadelphia Big Brother Association.

The national Big Brother organization established a council of delegates comprising two representatives from each of the local Big Brother groups. At the annual meetings, the council of delegates elected the board of directors, which consisted of not less than thirty and not more than one hundred members who had been selected by the nominating committee, the president, or member agencies. In practice, Big Brothers of America, Inc., tried to have each local group nominate one of its non-professional members or officers to the national board of directors. The board also included directors-at-large or honorary directors who were prominent in business, finance, and social circles. It was hoped that their national influence would publicize Big Brother work. A few of these honorary directors were Thomas C. Clark, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court; Stuart Garson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada; Luther W. Youngdahl, Governor of Minnesota and United States District Court Judge; Thomas C. Hennings, Jr., United States Senator from Missouri; and Kenneth Johnson, Dean of the New York School of Social Work.

At the 1949 annual meeting, the council of delegates authorized the board of directors to elect an executive committee to meet when the board was not in session. The executive committee was given all the powers of the board, except the right to amend the constitution and bylaws. In 1950, Charles Berwind appointed a technical planning committee, which was chaired by Joseph McCoy. The committee was charged to: develop a questionnaire to be circulated to various member organizations in order to suggest improvements; devise suitable statistical report forms for use by the Big Brothers of America, Inc. and local agencies; study record forms in use by local Big Brother organizations and develop a standard set of forms; and to prepare a manual of procedures for the formation of new Big Brother organizations.

The administration of the Big Brothers of America, Inc., which was incorporated by an Act of Congress in 1958, remained basically the same though the 1960s. However, the increase in the number of Big Brother agencies by the late 1950s made the national board too large and resulted in a regional demarcation in the election of members to the board of directors. The United States and Canada were divided into seven regions, and the election of the members of the board of directors was done proportionally by the number of member agencies (corporate members) in a region. According to the Big Brother Bulletin, Vol. XVII, No. 2, Summer, 1967, the national Big Brother organization comprised 113 member agencies in the United States and Canada. By 1971, there were 208 local organizations. The Big Brothers of America, Inc. promoted Big Brother work through Big Brother Weeks; by assisting and guiding in the formation of new Big Brother groups; and by helping existing Big Brother agencies to maintain acceptable standards of service and work.

Additional information is available on the Big Brothers Big Sisters website.