Big Brothers Big Sisters is releasing new public service announcements featuring the national mentoring organization’s spokesman, Academy ® Award and Grammy ® Award-winner Jamie Foxx, and other celebrity supporters. The PSAs, aimed at increasing donations, volunteerism and alumni re-engagement, will air nationally on cable TV stations as part of Big Brothers Big Sisters’ national partnership with Comcast Corporation.
In his PSA, Foxx says every child needs a mentor and that his grandmother and other adults served as his role models. Grammy Award winning artist EVE links her inspiring new single from her upcoming album, “Make It Out This Town,” to Big Brothers Big Sisters’ effectiveness in helping children who face adversity beat the odds. Miss America 2012 Laura Kaeppeler tells viewers how experiencing her father’s incarceration motivated her to support Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Mentoring Children of Prisoners program. Former Little Brother Darrin Smith, a two-time Super Bowl champion who earned his MBA before going to the NFL, encourages alumni “Bigs” and “Littles” to re-engage with the organization as donors or volunteers.
The PSAs are a part of Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Start Something ® brand repositioning, which goes beyond the standard “we need volunteers” message. They encourage viewers to donate to support careful mentor matching and ongoing support for volunteers, kids and families and emphasize that the greatest volunteer need is for male mentors, since most youth waiting for “Bigs” are boys. In addition, there’s an invitation for Big Brothers Big Sisters alumni to “Start Something [again]” to change the odds for children who face adversity.
“Comcast’s generous donation of air time allows us to show and tell millions of cable viewers that by supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters, they can change the odds for children and families in their own communities,” said Big Brothers Big Sisters of America President and CEO Charles Pierson. “With support from Jamie Foxx and other celebrity partners, we expect the new PSAs to help us attract new support and grow our alumni network so we can increase our capacity to serve more children who face adversity.”
Donated airtime from Comcast is part of the company’s national investment in Big Brothers Big Sisters that started in 2008 and exceeds $40 million. The partnership also includes sponsorships of the organization’s national conference and “Bigs of the Year” as well as leadership training, boards of directors’ service and hundreds of employee volunteers for the corporation’s Beyond School Walls ® workplace mentoring program, the nation’s largest workplace mentoring program in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, with programs in 13 cities across the country.
