- Welcome to "Inland Edition", where this season we're having conversations with people who represent nonprofit organizations [light background music] working to make the Inland Empire a better place.

My name is Joe Richardson.

I'm a local attorney, Inland Empire resident and your host.

And today, we're going to chat with Sloane Keane, the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County and the Inland Empire.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters' mission is to create and support mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of the next generation, believing that through mentorship youth can achieve their full potential.

They accomplish this by pairing adult volunteers with children between 6 to 16 years of age in various programs and activities designed to foster lasting friendships and to open a child's eyes to new possibilities.

Raised in Orange County, Sloane Keane is an advocate for social change through youth mentorship.

She joined Big Brothers Big Sisters in 2013 as director of development and she tripled agency revenue while doubling the number of mentor pairings annually.

She is committed to strengthening the organization's impact on disconnected youth across Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Let's meet her now, and learn more about how Big Brothers Big Sisters impacts our community.

[soft piano music] ♪ [gentle upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ - [Joe] So, from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County and the Inland Empire, I have the CEO Sloane Keane.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Oh, the pleasure is all mine.

I cannot wait to get to know each other.

- Right!

We've had a lot of fun already talking through some things.

- Yeah, we have.

- Let's start off with kind of-?

Let's build the house a little bit.

Start off with maybe your own "aha moment" in terms of being in nonprofit leadership.

How did that kind of happen for you?

Was it one aha moment or was it a bunch of moments?

- Yeah, yeah!

It's a great question.

I think it was a series of great mentors in my life.

And, I love this question because it helps me frame that you can be whatever you want to be.

- Right.

- You know, when you go to college and you graduate, my case with a communications degree- - Sure.

- I started in advertising.

- Right.

- Spent 15 years.

- Wow.

- From New York to LA kind of working in advertising, TV, print.

- [Joe] Right.

- Grew up in Southern California.

- Sure.

- Moved back and I became a volunteer.

- Yeah.

- I became a Big Sister.

One committee, one fundraising event, one marketing conversation after another, I started to become more interested- - Right.

- in what does it take to run a nonprofit.

- [Joe] Right.

- You know, what is necessary?

And, what it really comes down to, which is really amazing, is it's running a business.

- Right.

- You know, you need money, you need people, and you need communication.

You need marketing, right?

- Right.

- And, two of those, I had a lot of experience in.

So, when I had the opportunity to come on board originally-- So, it's been 10 years, celebrating my 10-year anniversary!

- [Joe] Wow.

- 10 years ago, I got the opportunity to come on board and help them raise their fundraising strategy, bring some resources and some stability to the organization.

I call it a "right" turn!

- Right.

- Right?

I made a right turn.

- [Joe] Sure.

- Into the nonprofit community and 10 years later, I have my dream job.

I'm the CEO of the largest mentoring organization in the state of California.

- [Joe] Right.

- Part of the largest federated mentoring model in the country.

- [Joe] Right.

- Celebrating 120 years this year.

- So, I wanna go through the window of the mission of the organization, which I want you to talk about.

But, what I love about this opportunity and this conversation is that this is the organization, this is what I like to call a "name-brand nonprofit."

- Yeah.

- Everybody thinks they know it!

So, give us the mission and talk about what you do, but also let us know what people don't know.

- Yeah, yeah.

No, I love this question.

I love this question!

So-?

Yeah.

So, being 120 years old comes with wisdom, hopefully!

But, you know, I think most people familiarized with Big Brothers Big Sisters, they think of mentorship.

- Right.

- Great.

You know, you're right on.

But, over the last century, mentorship has evolved.

You know, typically?

Like, Joe, you'd make a great big brother.

In fact, you have been.

- I was a Big Brother!

- You have been.

- William Roberts, I see you, man.

- Right.

- Love you, man.

Love you!

30 years.

30 years-plus!

- [Sloane] We'll get to that story later maybe.

- Right on.

But, so...perfect!

So, most people think of Joe, Big Brother, meeting a young man in the community and you'd be right.

I mean, that is a part of our program.

- Right.

- But, what we found is, is that to serve most of the youth that need a mentor, we have to get onto a facilitated campus.

- Right.

- So, over half of the youth we serve today is, actually, served after school at Title I elementary schools.

- Right.

- And, their mentor is a high school student.

- Wow.

Okay.

- And, this is thousands of youth every year, once a week.

So, you do the math; once a week after school high school students travel.

And these kids, some of them have cars, some of them don't.

- Right.

- Some of them walk to a site to invest in their community, to build leadership, to build connection, to sit with an elementary school student and work on homework.

- Yeah.

- And, really think about, today what does our youth need more than anything else?

They need connection.

- [Joe] Right.

- They need a positive role model.

They need someone to say, "Hey, Joe, how was your day?"

- Right.

- "How was school today?

"Who'd you eat with at lunch?"

- Mm hm.

- "Did you get that homework done?"

- Yeah.

- "How was that spelling test?"

- [Joe] Right, right.

- You know, these are small questions.

- Right.

- But, they all indicate that somebody cares.

- Right.

Okay.

- Somebody sees you and they support you.

And so, we have thousands of youth all throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties after school who are getting this high school student.

Let me tell you the most important part about that.

Do you know what age gang recruitment starts?

- I'm thinking young-ish and younger than I would normally think, right?

- So, the research shows us, it starts in first grade.

- Shoo, man.

- So, what if?

What if we can provide a positive sense of-- 'Cause let's be honest.

I mean, gangs are our biggest competition.

What do they offer you?

Belonging.

Support.

- Right.

- Family.

So, what if you could be offered that on a positive?

Positive disruption, right?

- Yeah.

- And, that is the basis that Big Brothers was built on, is really positive disruption.

So, while we serve the community and we're always looking to grow, I need more Joes.

We'll talk about that later.

We're also serving the community after school on elementary school campuses.

And, it's a great way to serve a young man that may not come through our front door, right?

Who may need our services, but doesn't have a family member that's engaged enough to seek us out, right?

- [Joe] Right.

- And, in the last 10 years?

Workforce development.

It's on the tip of everyone's tongue.

- Sure.

- What do mentors do?

They give you access and exposure.

They give you an opportunity to see something, to be something, right?

So, if we think about pursuing a postsecondary-?

First of all, let's talk about high school graduation!

- Right.

Sure.

- Okay?

Let's start with building blocks of a career.

- Yeah.

- 99% of our kids that come through our program, they're first in their family to graduate from high school.

- 99%?

- Yeah.

- [Joe] Oh, my god.

- So, when you think about that, that's the building block, right?

You know, first generation.

So, then what's next?

Okay, what happens after that?

Life, frankly.

That's when you need a mentor more than ever before, right?

So, this is when you have somebody walk you through.

A young man that was helping me get ready today was sharing that he's first in his family to graduate from college.

- [Joe] Right, yeah.

- Okay.

That's transformational, generational change, right?

- [Joe] Sure.

- And then, we talked about what got him there and he was telling me about all the mentors, the village that it took.

And then, now that he's graduating and he's got this degree, he needs a job.

- Right.

- Right?

And then, he told me those mentors are the ones that are helping him walk his resume into certain opportunities, right?

All things being equal.

- [Joe] Yeah.

- That's what we call "social capital", right?

- Right.

- That's what mentorship is.

And, in this aspirational world that we're in today, a century later, we really look at mentorship as the key solution to economic and social mobility.

- Right.

- Particularly, in under-resourced neighborhoods.

- Yeah, yeah.

- So, we're-- to kind of summarize, what you knew about Big Brothers is what we are.

- Yeah.

- We are positive disruption.

Kids in our program make better decisions, a.k.a.

they stay outta jail, right?

- [Joe] Right.

Sure.

- We reduce mental health by adding connection and a positive role model into people's lives.

They feel better about themselves, right?

- [Joe] Right.

- But, on a positive, we keep you in school.

You've got accountability.

You've got somebody that helps you get to school.

'Cause if we can agree, education is the ultimate goal.

- Right.

- But, first, you gotta get there and then you gotta behave, right?

So, attendance and behavior.

So, being part of this program, having a mentor helps you do that.

- Right.

- And then, ultimately, with that education you wanna a career.

- Right.

- And, not just that first job, right?

- Right.

- And, that's what I think is really important about mentorship is, Joe, I am sure that you helped several people get that first job.

- Mm hm.

- Then, what about that next job?

- Yeah.

- "Hey, Joe?

"I'm thinking about leaving.

"I think I have a bad boss.

"I'm tired showing up to work at 8:00 AM every day."

It might be a little truth!

It might be a little bit like "That's life.

It's called a job."

It's a J-O-B.

It's called work, right?

(Joe laughs) Or, it might be like, "Tell me about your boss."

Right?

This is a good scenario, but here's the deal.

There's so many other opportunities out there.

And so, to me, the most important thing that I would like all of your listeners to hear about mentorship today through the lens of Big Brothers Big Sisters is it is one of the key solutions that help create pathways to a future for our kids.

- [Joe] Right.

And, you've got enough time with Big Brothers Big Sisters to really talk about an evolution that you've witnessed.

You know?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- It's been around 120 years.

You've been there for 10.

- Yeah.

- That's more than one or two, and worn several different hats.

So, tell me how you've seen it change over the years, just since you've been involved.

- Well?

So, the number 10 is incredibly important today because the Inland Empire region is celebrating 10 years of mentorship within the Big Brothers Big Sisters lens today.

So, over those last 10 years, and I'm telling you things you already know, right?

So, 12th largest metro area in the country.

- Right.

- [Sloane] Right?

12th largest and growing, right?

All of our friends from L.A., you know?

They're all comin' down!

- Right.

- So, one of the reasons that mentorship was so important to our organization to deploy here in the Inland Empire is because resource disbursement is not equal.

- Right.

- Right?

So, when you think about resources, the Inland Empire receives per capita a tenth of the resources as our friends up in Los Angeles.

- Yep!

- And, a lot of that is per capita.

So, we talked about being the 12th largest county and growing.

But, let's talk about education.

- Right.

- Under a quarter of the residents in the Inland Empire have a bachelor's degree, under 25%.

Okay, I'm gonna frame that for you!

The national average and the state, California average is 50%.

- [Joe] Wow.

- And, 10 years ago, we weren't serving any youth.

So, 10 years later we served over 6,000 kids within the Inland Empire region.

And, that puts us ahead of some of our friends in San Francisco and Los Angeles, frankly.

- Right.

- And, we're just scratching the surface, by the way, and just getting started.

- Right.

Tell me about the extent to which the size, the land area- - Yeah.

- And, very different kinds of communities; rural, urban, et cetera.

- Yeah.

- Diverse people, more of color.

- Yeah.

- [Joe] Tell me about some of the challenges that the realities of the demographic, its reach, its growth, its land area- - Yeah.

- Presents for you.

- [Sloane] Frankly, it's a challenge!

- Right.

- I mean, the geographic region is a challenge.

And, it's really tough, 'cause when you think about, you live here in San Bernardino?

- In the area, yeah.

- So, you could have a great mentor in San Bernardino and a kid that lives, you know, in downtown Riverside, right?

And so, the geographic matching, the tetris of that is, frankly, it's a challenge.

- Right.

- So, one solution?

We just need more volunteers.

- Right.

Sure.

- We need more volunteers.

But, one of the key, really, areas that we've been able to get around that is that high school program we mentioned earlier.

- Sure.

- So, because we have high schools that are endemically close geographically to elementary schools, we're really able to serve a lot of youth through that program that, frankly, we wouldn't have been able to serve if we had done-- if we'd stuck with our traditional model, which is Joe kinda coming through that front door.

- One of the things that's interesting, being a Big Brother.

- [Sloane] Yeah!

- [Joe] I got William when he was six years old.

And, what you find is that not only do you do something for them, but they do something for you.

- Yes!

- Because among other things, one of the things that I discovered-- 'Cause I have my own ups and downs in life, and those types of things.

Even though maybe I was relatively stable, I was on my way to law school and all these other things, and stayed in touch.

But, when you are in a difficult moment, when you're having frustrations, you can figure it out.

You know, fill in the blank: frustration X or Y or Z.

- Right.

- It's important to understand that you are an inspiration to somebody.

You're actually a help to someone.

So, even on your worst day, even on a difficult day, a difficult time, that program helped me to understand I still had something to give.

- Mm hm.

- And so, he thanks me for being a Big Brother, but I thank him for being a little brother!

You know what I mean?

And, I'm still close with his mom.

Sandra!

Hey, how you doin'?

She worked here in this area.

But, we get so much.

It's just like "you get when you give anyway", right?

- Yes!

- And so, for my part, I want this to happen as much as possible because it's this resource.

They were at my wedding!

You know what I mean?

- Wow.

- We've been there at milestones and moments.

So, tell me about, you know-- You're in the nonprofit space.

- Yeah.

- I like to say there's "no romance without finance."

In other words, you gotta raise money, right?

(Sloane laughs) What is your resource wish list?

Like, fill in the blank.

"I would like to do more of...this."

- Right.

- "With more resources, "we would do this.

"This is our next phase.

"This is looking around the corner.

This is where we wanna go."

- [Sloane] Yeah.

- What would you say to that?

- That's a great question.

So, I say our two driving resource factors-- You know?

I love it; "no romance without finance!"

No.

Yeah!

- I love it!

"No romance without finance.

That's actually from a song.

- Finance.

I love that!

I love that.

I'm gonna borrow that from you!

(Joe laughs) That's true.

I would not be a nonprofit CEO if I didn't tell you that resources are always on the tip of my tongue.

- Right!

- And, when we think about, particularly, what's on the horizon, right?

- Right.

- And, we think about how mentors really create a stronger, faster, better workforce, right?

- Right.

- I think that that's an area that we'll continue to double down on, right?

- Right.

- We'll see what partners between our K-through-12 and our higher ed, and our counties and our corporate partners.

- Right.

- You know, retention and labor, acquisition of talent, is on the tip of any leader's tongue.

- Sure.

- So, how do we play a role in that and how do we get the community to invest in us in doing that?

So, I think resource wise, that's something we're always looking to grow and expand, right?

- Right.

- But, I have to tell you, mentorship takes two.

- Yeah, sure.

- So, we are not direct service.

So, even if I had all the money in the world, I need volunteers.

- [Joe] Right.

Sure.

- I need volunteers.

I need people to step up, raise their hand and invest in, quite frankly, our future.

- Right.

- The next generation.

When you think about it, what could be a better investment of your time- - Right.

- Than building what our future looks like?

So, I'm always looking for volunteers.

- Right.

- You know?

And, yeah!

So, if you could help me do that, if you could help me mobilize (Joe laughs) the Inland Empire, right?

- [Joe] Right, right!

- And, people ask me all the time, "Sloane, what does a volunteer look like?"

- Right.

- And, I said, "It looks like "anybody who wants to raise their hand and make a difference in a kid's life."

- Sure.

- Right?

But, are there better times in your life to volunteer than others?

Yes.

Right?

- Right.

- So, if you're young.

- Right.

- Now how old were you when you became a volunteer?

- I was 19, 20; right in there.

- [Sloane] Alright.

Probably in university?

- Mm hm, yep.

I was in school.

Yep!

- So, I'd love to mobilize our young- - Sure.

- Gen Zers out there, right?

- Yeah.

- Y'all wanna make a difference, you know?

- Right.

- You have the time.

You're not developing your career "yet."

You don't have kids yet, you know?

- Right.

- It's a great time for you to lean in and make a huge impact.

- Right, right.

- On a young person.

We also have a lot of people who are kind of nearing the empty nesters.

You're also an empty nester, yes?

- Yes!

Yeah, and actually it's kinda okay!

We miss you!

- You're fitting all my demographics!

- Daughter, we miss you.

But, (Sloane laughs) we alright!

I mean, yeah.

I kinda like it, actually!

- So, there's a secret that I wanna demystify here.

So, one of the biggest growing groups of mentors is actually what we call Big Couples.

- Right.

- Right, so you and a significant other- - Right.

- Can together do this, right?

- Right.

- And, what we're finding is this is really attractive to maybe couples who never had kids or couples who are empty nesters.

- Sure.

- And, I'm gonna tell you something you already know.

Men have a trouble with commitment.

(Joe chuckles) Have you heard this?

Have you heard this before?

- Uh, yeah!

- [Sloane] Yeah?

Okay!

(Joe laughs) So, women are three times more likely to volunteer.

So, I always match little girls with young women really quickly.

- Right.

- Where I struggle is with young boys.

- Interesting.

Wow.

- And, I'll tell you it's a particular soft spot for me, because I'm a mother of boys.

- [Joe] Right, right.

- And, I know firsthand the impact of a father figure in that kid's life.

- [Joe] Sure.

- And, many of the little boys on our wait list today don't have that.

- Hmm.

- You know?

We have families doing the best they can, but they are bringing their kids to me because they're looking to add that positive male role model in their kid's life.

- Right.

- So, I'm looking for a few good men.

- Right.

- But, as a Big Couple, we will match you with a little boy.

And, I have hundreds of little boys today.

- [Joe] Right.

Wow.

So, I don't think it is a risk for me to say that you guys are thought leaders in mentorship.

- Mm.

- In the mentorship model.

Tell us.

Look in the crystal ball 10, 15 years from now.

- Yeah.

- And, tell me where, what the state of mentorship is and what is boys-?

Or, what is your organization's, Big Brothers Big Sisters, what is their role in it?

Because my sense is between being in California, which is often a thought leader, which is often doing things in front and has to innovate because of size, because of scale and those types of things.

Between being where we are and then being the organization that you are- - Mm hm.

- you're looked to the lead, anyway.

So, when you're looking towards the future, what do you see, and what role does your organization have in it?

- I love that.

Thank you for the compliment.

So, Joe, I have a dream!

(Joe laughs) Here's my dream.

I wanna be the Nike swish of mentorship!

- Okay, alright!

- So, when you think of Big Brothers Big Sisters, then you think of the B.

- Right.

- You know, we are the oldest, largest and most trusted mentorship organization in the country, right?

- [Joe] Right.

Sure.

- [Sloane] Today, when you think of Big Brothers Big Sisters, most people think of young youth.

- Yeah.

- Please continue to think of us that way.

But, as we evolve 10 years from now, I want you to think about Big Brothers Big Sisters as your trusted source for providing mentorship that transforms communities- - Right.

- In creating the next workforce.

- [Joe] Sure.

- Right?

I want to be, I want to continue-- You know, an interesting statistic which our national office just sort of relayed to us, is that most organizations focus, the majority of their stakeholders, their clients, particularly youth-serving organizations, are young.

It's between 7 and 11.

- Right.

- So, over half of the youth we serve nationally is between 13 and 24.

- Really?

Wow.

- And so, that sets us apart, just that stat alone, in the world of nonprofits because it's very difficult.

I mean, I have a lot of friends who, good friends who do great work in facilitated programs; the Boys and Girls Clubs, the YMCAs, all sorts of great programs that are so vital to our community, right?

- Right.

- They play huge roles.

It's hard to get kids to the clubs after 12, after 13.

- Sure.

- And, they're doing a great job and they're really trying.

But, what is endemic to our organization is, you know your little brother that you met at age six.

- Yeah.

- When he turned 13 and he became twerpy and he was in middle school and said things that most people would walk away from.

- Sure.

- You didn't.

- [Joe] Right.

- You can't quit a relationship, you know?

So, our program is much more than just a program.

- Right.

- It's a commitment to a relationship.

And so, because those relationships often precede some of these years, you're able to step in, in those middle school years.

- Sure.

- You're able to step in, in high school and then you're able to step in when he's 22.

- Right, right.

- You know and he's trying to get that first job and that next job.

And when, frankly, he just needs to hear like, "You gotta get up."

- [Joe] Right.

That's right.

- "You gotta get up, and you gotta show up."

- [Joe] Yeah.

- "I'm your accountability partner."

So, to me, 10 years from now, I think we could be playing a much larger role in this postsecondary environment.

- Yeah.

- Really aligning with our community colleges and our four-year universities.

What if that first generation, first year student, actually graduated?

- [Joe] Right.

Yeah.

- And then, when they graduate, how about they get that job at the wage that they deserve, right?

Regardless of circumstance.

And, I feel very strongly that mentorship and what we have to offer with a hundred, a century years, a century of experience behind us, that we could play a key role in walking those kids to success.

- Right.

- Because I had the luxury of having a mentor help me.

- Yeah.

- I have a scalability that no other organization, government, nonprofit, institution.

You know, you think about all these great teachers.

Even at best you're looking at 24-to-1, right?

- Right.

- From a ratio perspective.

- Yeah.

- This program offers a much smaller ratio- - Sure.

- And, a higher level of success.

- Right.

So, everybody's inspired like I knew they would be.

Give us some homework.

How does somebody follow up that wants to know more about Big Brothers Big Sisters?

- [Sloane] So, how do you become a mentor like you?

So, we've got a couple ways.

So, you can visit us at IEbigs.org Our offices are right in downtown Riverside at Chicago Avenue!

You can come and have a cup of coffee with us and knock down our door!

But, any way you find us, we cannot wait to meet you.

I promise you, we will change your life when you're changing somebody else's.

- Sloane Keane, my thanks.

- Well, thank you.

I have a double thank you for you today, Joe.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you for giving us this platform.

Thank you for being a volunteer.

Thank you for being a Big Brother.

Thank you for changing someone's life.

- I tell you what a gift and it's a gift that has continued to give to me.

And so, it's very easy for us to let folks know that this is a wonderful, wonderful organization amongst a host of wonderful, wonderful organizations that we have been covering here on "Inland Edition".

So, I wanna thank you for coming by, watching this.

Let everyone know you can go to YouTube, not only see outtakes and additional information, but see the episodes that you've missed.

So, make sure you do that and we'll continue going down the road, showing all the great work being done in the Inland Empire, in the nonprofit space and we will do it one conversation at a time.

Until then, Joe Richardson, for "Inland Edition".

Thanks.

[uplifting music and vocals] ♪ ♪ ♪ [softer music and vocals] ♪ ♪ ♪ [music fades]