Media Contact: Gerri Freid Kramer; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay (813) 769-3621 or (813) 455-1458; [email protected] Jamie Foxx Announces Biggest Role Ever: National Spokesperson, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America November 30, 2012 – A small group of teen and pre-teen boys and their mentors joined Oscar Award Winning Actor Jamie Foxx at a private party at his Los Angeles-area home to celebrate the actor’s newest and biggest role ever -- national spokesperson for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. The nation’s largest and most effective non-profit youth mentoring organization, Big Brothers Big Sisters carefully pairs screened adult volunteers with youth facing adversity in safe, professionally supported one-to-one long-term mentoring matches. The organization provides mentors, mentees and parents ongoing professional support and guidance to keep the mentoring matches going strong as long as possible. Children in the program are those of single, lowincome and incarcerated parents or sons and daughters of military personnel. Studies find when enrolled in the program, they are more likely than their peers to improve in school and their behavior and their self-esteem. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay currently serves approximately 2,000 kids in Hillsborough, Polk and Pasco County. As national spokesperson, Foxx will represent the organization at national and local Big Brothers Big Sisters events and work with other influencers and celebrities to help raise needed funding so that the organization can grow to serve more children. He will also promote the organization in Public Service Announcements and special appearances. More than 34,000 children across the U.S., primarily boys of color, are on Big Brothers Big Sisters “waiting to be matched” lists. The organization needs more volunteer mentors, particularly men of color, and additional financial support for sufficient staffing to match the kids in safe, long-term mentoring matches that yield the outcomes unique to Big Brothers Big Sisters. 1 About Big Brothers Big Sisters For more than 100 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life. Big Brothers Big Sisters supports families by providing screened and trained volunteer mentors to a wide range of children in our community who could benefit the most from having a Big Brother or Big Sister in their lives (e.g., children from single parent families, military families, families with an incarcerated parent, foster youth, children struggling in school or children living in poverty.) As the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”). Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay serves approximately 2000 children each year in Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties. Its programs are evidence-based, and provide a system of ongoing evaluation and support which is proven by independent studies to help families by improving the odds that Littles will perform better in school, avoid violence and illegal activities, and have stronger relationships with their parents and others. Learn how you can positively impact a child’s life, donate or volunteer at http://www.bbbsfl.org. 2