Are youth mentoring programs good value-for-money? An evaluation of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Melbourne Program

Threshold analysis was undertaken to determine whether investment in the program was a worthwhile use of limited public funds. The potential cost savings were based on US estimates of life-time costs associated with high-risk youth who drop out-of-school and become adult criminals. The intervention was modelled for children aged 10–14 years residing in Melbourne in 2004.If the program serviced 2,208 of the most vulnerable young people, it would cost AUD 39.5 M. Assuming 50% were high-risk, the associated costs of their adult criminality would be AUD 3.3 billion. To break even, the program would need to avert high-risk behaviours in only 1.3% (14/1,104) of participants.This indicative evaluation suggests that the BBBS program represents excellent 'value for money'.Mentoring involves the commitment of time and specific efforts by a more experienced person to the development of a mutually beneficial, supportive and nurturing relationship with a less experienced person. Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) is a world wide organisation which has operated in Melbourne (BBBS-M), Australia since 1980. Its program matches vulnerable young people (termed "Littles"), who are aged between 7 and 17 years, living in complex social predicaments, are isolated and in need of additional support and friendship, with adult volunteers (termed "Big Brothers" or " Big Sisters" or "Bigs"). The program aims to reduce marginalisation and/or self-destructive behaviours in young people and to foster optimal development and the establishment of confident adult identities.As at November 2003, there were 439 Littles on the database of BBBS-M. Of these, 109 were in active matches with a Big, whilst a further 189 were on the waiting list for a match, and 141 were classified as 'non-active' (most of whom had been in a match which had been completed, the majority through a process of graduation) (see Table 1) [1]. There were more than twice as many girls than boys actively matched, and there were more boy