Big Brothers Big Sisters Supports Michael Baisden's One Million Mentors Tour

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Big Brothers Big Sisters has partnered with popular nationally syndicated urban radio personality Michael Baisden for his One Million Mentors Campaign and Save Our Kids tour.  The seven-month, 72-city national bus tour begins in Dallas this week where Baisden's show is headquartered.

The Michael Baisden Show is the top-ranked urban afternoon program in the country. Every weekday, Baisden ignites lively, passionate discussions while combining the best in music, comedy and social commentary to inspire real change across America. In 2007, he spearheaded the widely reported Jena 6 civil rights demonstration where tens of thousands of Americans peacefully marched in Louisiana to protest the justice system's mistreatment of six young African American men.

"We applaud Michael Baisden's fearless focus on encouraging community activism and believe his outspoken advocacy and support of mentoring will make a real difference in the communities we serve," said Big Brothers Big Sisters of America President & CEO Karen Mathis. "We have independent evidence and know first-hand how long-term volunteer mentoring makes communities stronger and safer, empowering children and families to beat the odds. We will join the Baisden Foundation's One Million Mentors tour, providing information about how Big Brothers Big Sisters' time-tested careful mentor matching and ongoing support benefit children, their families and volunteers."

During the tour, the Michael Baisden Foundation will team with local radio affiliates, Big Brothers Big Sisters, 100 Black Men of America, National Cares Mentoring Movement, the United Way, local faith-based organizations and other community mentoring organizations to educate communities about mentoring and raise funds to support local organizations.

The One Million Mentors tour comes on the heels of Big Brothers Big Sisters' national summit with African American fraternity leaders from Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi, who have teamed with the nation's largest donor-supported network of volunteer mentors in an unprecedented collaboration.  Representatives from the fraternities will also join local Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies at the One Million Mentors tour rallies. With African American boys disproportionately representing the children waiting to be matched with "Bigs," the fraternities have committed to help recruit Big Brothers and raise funds so that agencies can meet the demand with sufficient match support.

To learn if the One Million Mentors to Help Save Our Kids through Mentoring tour will stop in your town, please go to http://www.onemillionmentors.com.

About the Michael Baisden Foundation

The Michael Baisden Foundation is partnering with national and local organizations to support the efforts of Mentor organizations and organizations that support children. Over the past four years the foundation has donated nearly a half million dollars to other 501 (c)(3) non-profit organizations throughout the U.S. to help support Youth Organizations. In February 2010, The Baisden Live National Tour to "Save Our Kids" will launch. In every city, Michael will donate $5,000 per affiliate market and challenge his listeners to beat it. He's making a difference, a donation and an impact in every city and along the way!

About Big Brothers Big Sisters

Big Brothers Big Sisters helps vulnerable children beat the odds.  The organization depends on donations to help conduct background checks on volunteers to ensure child safety; and provide ongoing support for children, families and volunteers to build and sustain long-lasting relationships, key to successful mentoring.  Big Brothers Big Sisters is proven by independent research to improve children's odds for succeeding in school, behaving nonviolently, avoiding drugs and alcohol, and breaking negative cycles.  Headquartered in Philadelphia and with nearly 400 agencies across the country, Big Brothers Big Sisters serves more than a quarter million children. Learn how you can change how children grow up in America by going to BigBrothersBigSisters.org and MentoringBrothers.org.

SOURCE Big Brothers Big Sisters