Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: The Big Draft by Barkley

With volunteerism at an all-time low, 30,000 underserved youth across the country wait to be matched with mentors. The NFL Inspire Change program and the Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) organization are using a new way to find “Bigs”: an NFL draft.

For a century, BBBS has relied on hand-raisers to become volunteers (or Bigs), but that’s becoming less effective. What if in addition to looking for individuals to volunteer, existing Bigs and the community helped draft the next generation of mentors? So on February 9, BBBS will launch “The Big Draft” campaign, concepted by independent agency Barkley. NFL players and members are teaming with more than 240 BBBS agencies to help recruit Bigs and aid social justice in their communities. Players like the Cincinnati Bengal’s Sam Hubbard, Miami Dolphin’s Christian Wilkins, and Rodney McLeod, Jalen Mills, Todd Herremans, Brent Celek, Jason Avant, AJ Feeley, Malcolm Jenkins from the Philadelphia Eagles.

From now through April, potential Bigs are being tagged by those in their community through their local BBBS social channels. Once tagged, the potential Big will be sent to their local BBBS’s website for more details about becoming a Big and to begin the application process. New recruits will be celebrated in late April at the start of the NFL draft season, some new Bigs will be invited to participate in a live draft event happening in select cities.