Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern Connecticut have merged to form the statewide agency Big Brothers Big Sisters of Connecticut.

By Ronni Newton

The state’s two Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations announced a merger this week, with the creation of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Connecticut and also announced that Andy Fleischmann of West Hartford will be president and CEO of the new agency.

Fleischmann, a former 12-term state representative and House chair of the Education Committee, has been CEO of Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters since 2011. Prior to that, he was COO of SpeedReading People.

The new organization, which will operate under an agreement with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, will be combining its resources to serve more children in need through the create of mentor matches between “Bigs” – the adult mentors – and “Littles” – the mentees, who range in age from 5 through young adult. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Connecticut will serve all 169 municipalities in the state and will operate out of the Hartford office on Laurel Street with satellite offices in Bridgeport and Norwich.

“I’d like to commend the Boards of Directors and staffs of the Big Brothers Big Sisters teams at both Nutmeg and Southwestern Connecticut for the countless hours of mentoring support they’ve provided to children, families and volunteers in our state,” Fleischmann said in a statement. “As we begin implementation of this historic merger, we’re looking forward to building a statewide organization that offers proven Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring services to more children than ever before. We’re excited to strengthen existing relationships with supporters and partners while also seeking out new partnerships that help us enroll more children, volunteers and families.”

According to the announcement, Ellen Tracy, who has served as executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern Connecticut since 2002, will take on the role of Director of Advancement at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Connecticut and will report directly to Fleischmann.

More information about Big Brothers Big Sisters of Connecticut can be found on the organization’s website.

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