Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Nevada (BBBSN) has been developing positive relationships that have a direct and lasting impact on the lives of youth in the Las Vegas community since 1973. BBBSN serves youth ages 6 through 18 through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with mentors that have a measurable impact on youth. Molly Latham serves as CEO. The headquarters is at 2000 East Flamingo Road in Las Vegas. The website is bbbsn.org. BBBSN has sharpened its focus, reimagined its approach, and modernized its look and communication as the leading youth mentoring program in Las Vegas. It costs BBBSN approximately $1,400 per year to make and maintain a match through professional match support processes, compared to an estimated $195,000 per year to incarcerate a youth in Nevada. More than 8.5 million kids nationally still need someone who will stand in their corner; BBBSN is committed to defending every kid's potential and building the biggest possible future for Las Vegas youth together.
BBBSN believes in igniting the potential that exists within every child. The mission is to be the leading youth mentoring program in Las Vegas, providing the support and guidance that at-risk youth need to thrive. As a leading nonprofit organization in Las Vegas, BBBSN is dedicated to transforming lives through community outreach and mentorship programs. By standing with BBBSN, donors contribute to a brighter future for countless children.
Potential lives within every child. Yet more than 8.5 million kids nationally still need someone who will stand in their corner. At BBBSN, the focus is sharpened, the approach is reimagined, and the look and communication are modernized. BBBSN is committed to defending every kid's potential and building the biggest possible future, together.
BBBSN has been developing positive relationships that have a direct and lasting impact on the lives of youth in the Las Vegas community since 1973. The organization has more than 50 years of institutional history in Southern Nevada.
Being in the nonprofit world in Las Vegas can have its challenges. Las Vegas is a transient city with a high percentage of residents who moved from elsewhere, lower rates of the deep multi-generational community roots that often drive volunteerism and philanthropy in older cities, and a hospitality and entertainment industry that creates specific volunteer availability patterns. Latham has noted that for people who work for nonprofit organizations in Las Vegas, the work can be its own reward: those in the nonprofit community see the challenges in the community and want to make a difference.
Molly Latham serves as CEO of BBBSN. She moved to Las Vegas in 1998 and has always worked in youth support, continuing to do so after arriving in Las Vegas. She has been with Big Brothers Big Sisters for more than six years. Latham has been a vocal public spokesperson for BBBSN in local media, including a profile in the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Vegas Voices series.
Latham has framed the BBBSN mission in concrete terms: when a mentor joins the team and the relationship builds, the child begins to relate better to peers, parents, and teachers. They also make positive decisions and have improved performance in school. In general, children who have mentors tend to enjoy educational success, decrease their risky behaviors, develop healthy relationships, and become positive contributors in the community.
Latham has articulated the economic case for mentoring with a specific Nevada cost comparison: it costs BBBSN approximately $1,400 per year to make and maintain a match through professional match support processes. It costs as much as $195,000 a year to incarcerate a youth in Nevada. Research shows that youth who have a mentor are less likely to get involved in the juvenile justice system.
The 139-to-1 cost ratio (incarceration vs. mentoring) makes the economic case for preventive mentoring investment irrefutable: "Doesn't it make more sense to contribute to providing more mentors for youth so they grow up to be contributing members of society and don't get in trouble?" The cost comparison is particularly salient in Nevada, which historically has high youth incarceration rates.
BBBSN serves youth ages 6 through 18 in Southern Nevada. The Southern Nevada service area is centered on Las Vegas and includes the broader Clark County metropolitan region. Clark County contains Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Boulder City, and surrounding unincorporated communities.
BBBSN makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers and children ages 6 through 18 through professionally supported one-to-one relationships. The matching process ensures the match is safe, well-suited to each child's needs, and built to last. Professional Match Support Specialists provide ongoing case management throughout the match relationship, offering advice, ideas for activities, and support for both the Big and the Little.
BBBSN has sharpened its focus, reimagined its approach, and modernized its look and communication as part of its current strategic direction. The modernization reflects a national BBBSA trend of affiliates refreshing their brands, digital presence, and communication strategies to reach new audiences of potential Bigs and donors who may not have been exposed to BBBSN through traditional channels.
The reimagined approach is designed to make the case for mentoring to Las Vegas community members who may think of BBBSN as an older organization rather than a current one. The modernized look and communication strategy positions BBBSN to compete for the attention of the transient, younger Las Vegas population who may be looking for ways to engage with the community.
From BBBSN's Executive Team to its Board of Directors, the organization has a compassionate and dedicated group of individuals willing to do whatever it takes to help change children's lives for the better. The board includes representation from the restaurant industry, with the Sr. Vice President of Restaurant Excellence and Principal Operator of Arby's at Diversified Restaurant Group serving as a board member. To learn more about joining the board, contact Kelly Schwarz at [email protected].
To become a Big with BBBSN, visit bbbsn.org to start the volunteer application process. The screening process includes application, references, background check, interviews, and orientation. BBBSN makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers and children ages 6 through 18 across Southern Nevada based on shared interests, compatible personalities, and geographic proximity.
Latham has described the mentoring relationship: young people are matched with adult volunteers in professionally supported one-to-one relationships with a measurable impact on youth outcomes. Match Support Specialists provide ongoing case management, offering advice and ideas for activities that fit both the Big's availability and the Little's interests and needs.
Donations can be made at bbbsn.org. BBBSN is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with EIN 51-0136847. Donations are tax-deductible. The $1,400 per-year cost of making and maintaining a match provides donors with a concrete giving level reference. Corporate partnerships with Las Vegas hospitality, gaming, and services industry employers (including Diversified Restaurant Group representing Arby's on the board) provide additional revenue. Foundation grants and individual giving make up the broader fundraising mix.
BBBSN files its own Form 990 separately from Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. With approximately 8 employees, BBBSN is a focused organization compared with the larger metro BBBS affiliates. Match Support Specialist staffing is the primary operating cost alongside administrative staff. The $1,400 per-match-per-year figure that Latham has cited includes the full professional support costs that BBBSN's match process requires.
The small staff size is characteristic of a BBBS affiliate in a major metro area that has focused on program quality and match support depth rather than raw match count scale. The headquarters at 2000 East Flamingo Road in Las Vegas provides a central location accessible from across the Clark County service area.
For pure scale of youth-serving nonprofit infrastructure in Las Vegas, Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada reaches more children annually through after-school programming, and various community and faith-based organizations operate extensive youth programs. For one-to-one structured mentoring specifically, BBBSN is the largest established agency in Southern Nevada.
BBBSN's specific advantages: the 50-plus year institutional history in Southern Nevada, the professionally supported one-to-one match model with Match Support Specialist case management, the $1,400 vs. $195,000 cost comparison making the economic case for preventive mentoring investment, the reimagined and modernized strategic direction, and the integration with the broader BBBSA national network. Molly Latham's leadership from within the Las Vegas nonprofit community provides local credibility and community connection.
Last updated May 2026. BBBSN since 1973 developing positive relationships with direct and lasting impact on Las Vegas youth, serves ages 6-18 through professionally supported one-to-one relationships with mentors, headquartered at 2000 East Flamingo Road Las Vegas Nevada, from the Visual Visitor BBBSN company overview. Molly Latham as CEO, moved to Las Vegas 1998, always worked in youth support, with BBBSN more than six years, quote about nonprofit world in Las Vegas having challenges but the work being its own reward, those in nonprofit community seeing the challenges and wanting to make a difference, from the Las Vegas Review-Journal Vegas Voices June 2017 profile. Cost of $1,400 per year to make and maintain a match through professional match support processes versus $195,000 per year to incarcerate a youth in Nevada, research that youth with a mentor are less likely to get involved in juvenile justice system, children beginning to relate better to peers parents and teachers making positive decisions and improving school performance when mentor joins, Latham rhetorical question about whether mentoring makes more sense than incarceration, from the Las Vegas Review-Journal June 2017 profile. BBBSN having sharpened focus reimagined approach and modernized look and communication, belief in igniting potential in every child, mission to be leading youth mentoring program in Las Vegas, 8.5 million kids nationally still needing someone to stand in their corner, committed to defending every kid's potential and building biggest possible future, from the BBBSN homepage (bbbsn.org). Board of directors including Sr. VP Restaurant Excellence and Principal Operator of Arby's at Diversified Restaurant Group, contact Kelly Schwarz at [email protected] for board information, EIN 51-0136847, from the BBBSN Board of Directors page and ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer BBBSN page. We are not affiliated with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Nevada and receive no compensation for this listing. Errors: [email protected]
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