[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 26, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H2489-H2491]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING SECOND CENTURY OF BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS AND SUPPORTING 
               THE MISSION AND GOALS OF THAT ORGANIZATION

  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 41) recognizing the second 
century of Big Brothers Big Sisters, and supporting the mission and 
goals of that organization.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 41

       Whereas the year 2004 marked the 100th anniversary of the 
     founding of Big Brothers Big Sisters;
       Whereas Congress chartered Big Brothers in 1958;
       Whereas Ernest Coulter recognized the need for adult role 
     models for the youth he saw in court in New York City in 1904 
     and recruited ``Big Brothers'' to serve as mentors, beginning 
     the Big Brothers movement;
       Whereas Big Brothers Big Sisters is the oldest, largest 
     youth mentoring organization in the nation, serving over 
     220,000 children in 2004 and approximately 2,000,000 since 
     its founding 100 years ago;
       Whereas Big Brothers Big Sisters has historically been 
     supported through the generosity of individuals who have 
     believed in the organization's commitment to matching at-risk 
     children with caring, volunteer mentors;
       Whereas Big Brothers and Big Sisters have given countless 
     hours and forever changed the lives of America's children, 
     contributing over 10,500,000 volunteer hours at an estimated 
     value of $190,000,000 in 2004;
       Whereas evidence-based research has shown that the Big 
     Brothers Big Sisters mentoring model improves a child's 
     academic performance and relationships with teachers, 
     parents, and peers, decreases the likelihood of youth 
     violence and drug and alcohol use, and raises self-confidence 
     levels;
       Whereas 454 local Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies are 
     currently contributing to the quality of life of at-risk 
     youth in over 5,000 communities across the United States; and
       Whereas the future of Big Brothers Big Sisters depends not 
     only on its past impact, but also on the future 
     accomplishments of its Little Brothers and Little Sisters and 
     the continued commitment of its Big Brothers and Big Sisters: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring),  That Congress--
       (1) recognizes the second century of Big Brothers Big 
     Sisters, supports the mission and goals of the organization, 
     and commends Big Brothers Big Sisters for its commitment to 
     helping children in need reach their potential through 
     professionally supported one to one mentoring relationships 
     with measurable results;
       (2) asks all Americans to join in marking the beginning of 
     Big Brothers Big Sisters' second century and support the 
     organization's next 100 years of service on behalf of 
     America's children; and
       (3) encourages Big Brothers Big Sisters to continue to 
     strive towards serving 1,000,000 children annually.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boozman). Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) and the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Davis) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette).


                             General Leave

  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on House Concurrent Resolution 
41, the concurrent resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Committee on Government Reform, I rise 
in support of House Concurrent Resolution 41, a resolution that honors 
one of America's greatest charities. This year marks the 101st year 
since the founding of Big Brothers Big Sisters.
  Over the past century, this organization has been devoted to the 
well-being and development of our Nation's young people. Big Brothers 
Big Sisters aims to provide a mentor to every child who wants or needs 
one. Today, Big Brothers Big Sisters serves over 200,000 children ages 
6 to 18, nationwide.
  Performance statistics prove that children who are mentored by Big 
Brothers Big Sisters are much less likely than their peers to use 
illegal drugs or alcohol, to skip school, and

[[Page H2490]]

are more likely to have strong relationships with their families.
  Today, the House specifically recognizes the thousands of mentors who 
have made a difference through Big Brothers Big Sisters during its 
first century. Mentoring a child requires no special training or 
experience, just a willingness to spend time with a child during his or 
her formative years. We salute their compassion.
  Mr. Speaker, along with my distinguished colleagues, the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Schiff) and the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. 
Osborne), I commend Big Brothers Big Sisters for its commitment to 
helping children in need reach their potential, and I urge the adoption 
of House Concurrent Resolution 41.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to join my colleague, the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. LaTourette) by stating my strong support for H. Con. Res. 41, 
recognizing the second century of Big Brothers Big Sisters and 
supporting the mission and goals of that organization.
  Mr. Speaker, 2004 marked the 100th anniversary of Big Brothers Big 
Sisters, one of the Nation's greatest civic programs. Big Brothers Big 
Sisters is the oldest and largest youth-mentoring organization in the 
United States. As of last year, the organization served an astounding 
225,000 youth between the ages of 5 and 18 in 5,000 communities across 
the country.
  Research has demonstrated that mentoring helps at-risk youth overcome 
the many obstacles they face in their lives. Youths in the program, or 
``Littles'' as they are called, are less likely to use illegal drugs, 
consume alcohol, skip school, or engage in acts of violence.
  I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) for 
introducing this important legislation. Big Brothers Big Sisters has 
made a positive impact on the lives of impoverished young people, 
especially, and others throughout the Nation. We all owe them a great 
debt of gratitude, and I trust they will have success as they continue 
in their work.
  On a very personal note, Mr. Speaker, I had the good fortune to serve 
as a Big Brother to a little brother of mine, who then went on to 
become a staff person and work for the Mayor, Sharon Pratt, of 
Washington, D.C., and then went on to work for Vice President Al Gore, 
eventually becoming, and he is now, the minister and pastor of a church 
out in Maryland. So I know that the Big Brothers program is a good 
program; that it does work, because Reverend Courtney Miller is a prime 
example of that. And I certainly wish Courtney well as we wish the 
continuation of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to 
the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne), one of the lead cosponsors 
of this legislation.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for 
yielding me this time, and I rise in support of this concurrent 
resolution. I want to congratulate Big Brothers Big Sisters on 100 
years of service. I think any organization that lasts for 100 years is 
certainly doing some things correctly.
  At this time, I would like to point out, Mr. Speaker, that it is a 
very difficult time to be a young person in our Nation. We have a great 
deal of family instability. Roughly 50 percent of our children today 
are growing up without both biological parents, so they have suffered 
some serious dysfunction in their lives. Roughly 22 million young 
people today are fatherless, and of course they are moving into a world 
in which a drug and alcohol culture and violence is quite prevalent. So 
it is very, very difficult.
  We find that mentoring is one way that we can help these young people 
negotiate their way through a very difficult world. Mentoring works. As 
my colleague from Ohio mentioned earlier, it improves graduation rates 
and it improves school attendance. One of the programs I work with very 
closely improves attendance by 80 percent. It improves grades 
significantly. The program I am involved with, about a 40 percent 
improvement. It improves peer and family relationships and even 
improves personal hygiene, which is something that many people do not 
realize. It decreases drug and alcohol abuse in many programs by as 
much as 50 percent. It decreases crime, gang membership, teen 
pregnancy, and dropout rates.
  So this is about the best thing we have going, and it is very 
important to remember that it is very cost effective. It costs about 
$30,000 a year to lock somebody up, and yet most mentoring programs, 
some of the very best ones, cost maybe $400 to $500 per mentee per 
year. So we cannot have a better return on investment than that.
  I serve as a mentor. I have been mentoring a young person now for 
about 3 years, and I had another young person for 4 or 5 years before 
that. My wife also mentors. A mentor is somebody who cares, somebody 
who shows up. An awful lot of young people in our culture today do not 
have an adult in their life that they can count on; that they know 
cares about them unconditionally and will be there for them through 
thick and thin.
  A mentor is somebody who affirms. Again, so many young people today 
in our culture do not have anyone in their lives who say ``I believe in 
you, I see some talent, I think you could be a mechanic, I think you 
could be someone who can go to a community college, I think you could 
do well in school.'' So affirmation is something that all of us have to 
have in order to live effectively, and a mentor provides that.
  A mentor is someone who provides a vision of what is possible, 
because so many times a young person grows up in a family where no one 
has graduated from high school, no one has gone to college, no one has 
set any type of vision out there for them as to what they might be. So 
a mentor oftentimes fulfills that role.
  According to the National Mentoring Partnership, 18 million children 
in our country today need a mentor, yet only about 2.5 million actually 
are being mentored. Big Brothers Big Sisters accounts for roughly one-
tenth of that number. So we have a huge gap from what is needed to what 
we are actually getting done.
  We had a mentoring amendment attached to the No Child Left Behind 
bill that last year was funded at $50 million. This year, that money is 
in jeopardy. A lot of that money went to Big Brothers Big Sisters. So I 
would certainly like to encourage my colleagues to support this program 
and further this cause, because we have reached hundreds of thousands 
of young people as a result of it.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) and the 
gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) for sharing their personal 
experiences with us relative to mentoring, and I urge passage of the 
concurrent resolution.
  Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 41, a 
resolution highlighting the mission and goals of Big Brothers and Big 
Sisters and to recognize a hundred years of success in the 
organization.
  I applaud the work that Big Brothers Big Sisters perform on a daily 
basis to assist America's youth. As you are well aware, Big Brothers 
Big Sisters of America has helped more than one million children 
nationwide in its 100 years of operation. Youth with mentors are 
significantly less likely to try drugs or alcohol, skip school, or 
exhibit violent behavior. Children who participate in Big Brothers Big 
Sisters programs have better relationships with peers, get better 
grades, and get along better with their families as a result of the 
one-on-one attention of a caring adult role model.
  My district in El Paso, TX, is faced with significant challenges in 
deterring youth from becoming involved in drugs, alcohol, and violent 
activities. Founded in 1999, Big Brothers Big Sisters of El Paso has an 
excellent reputation in my district and has shown tremendous results. 
In fact, Big Brothers Big Sisters of El Paso has already drawn over $1 
million in State and Federal funds to our city. Because Big Brothers 
Big Sisters works with schools and businesses, it acts as a catalyst in 
the community helping bring business men and women into the lives of 
students and strengthening the bond between program participants and 
the community. Last year, I was honored to be selected to serve as an 
honorary board member of the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of El Paso.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in recognizing Big 
Brothers for their century of service to America's young people.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Concurrent 
Resolution 41

[[Page H2491]]

recognizing the second century of Big Brothers Big Sisters, the oldest 
and largest youth mentoring organization in the United States which 
celebrated its 100th anniversary last year.
  I want to thank Representative Tom Osborne for joining me in 
introducing this resolution and for his strong advocacy of mentoring. I 
also want to thank Chairman Tom Davis and Ranking Member Henry Waxman 
of the House Government Reform Committee for their diligence and 
helpfulness in getting this resolution to the Floor today. And I also 
appreciate and want to thank Senator John Ensign and Senator 
Christopher Dodd for their leadership in introducing this resolution in 
the Senate.
  But the big heroes are the untold thousands of volunteers--Big 
Brothers and Big Sisters throughout the country--who for the last one 
hundred years have played critical roles in the mentoring of our 
nation's youth. Lastly and most of all, I would like to thank all of 
the Little Brothers and Little Sisters because they have been the ones 
to enrich our lives.
  As you know, when Representative Osborne and I introduced this 
resolution in February, I came to the Floor to speak about my almost 
two decades of experience being a Big Brother, and my accomplished, now 
not-so-Little Brother, David. I was a young prosecutor in Southern 
California when I first became a Big Brother, and David was just seven 
years old. Through fun outings, good talks and merely spending time 
together, we learned a lot about each other and a lot about ourselves. 
He is now a Yale and USC film school graduate, and is emarking upon a 
wonderful career and many new adventures. Because of Big Brothers Big 
Sisters, I again experienced through David a child's wide-eyed optimism 
about the future, a teenager's eager determination to understand 
oneself and a young adult's pursuit of success.
  Kids need to learn and mature in safe and nurturing environments, yet 
so many face difficult circumstances through broken families, poverty 
or simply a lack of opportunities. These situations create an emotional 
burden very heavy to bear at any age, but especially upon children. In 
some cases, these burdens are too much to bear, and a child who could 
have contributed greatly to society takes a much more destructive path. 
We can prevent this from happening. Through Big Brothers Big Sisters 
and like-minded organizations, we can reach those at risk of 
delinquency, and help them lead productive lives. Our children truly 
are an investment in the future, and all of those who have participated 
in mentoring know that it is an investment that pays off greatly.
  Since 1904, Big Brothers Big Sisters has been enabling Americans to 
make this investment--hundreds of thousands of times over, one child at 
a time. We thank Big Brothers Big Sisters for the magnificent 
contribution they have made to our country and we look forward to many 
more years of continuing success.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for 
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 41.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution was 
agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________