Jennifer McAuslin is a proud member of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island’s unofficial “Boomerang Club,” having worked for BBBSRI twice! Jen first came to BBBSRI in 2015. She had previously been working in the Woonsocket School Department running a grant-funded Afterschool Program and Summer Camp for over 300 children yearly. Big Brothers Big Sisters ran a mentoring component within that program, in partnership with Bryant University, and Jen saw first-hand just how much of an impact mentoring had on the students she served. When a position opened up in their Site-Based mentoring department, Jen jumped at the chance to join the BBBSRI team!
Jen worked in the Site-Based Mentoring team from January 2015 through June 2017. Jen grew the college afterschool mentoring programs to over 100 Matches statewide. She also created and piloted the first two of the Beyond School Walls programs, in which companies partner with local schools to bring children into their company and learn STEAM-based skills under the mentorship of their employees. Jen began with a partnership with Amgen and the Exeter-West Greenwich school department, which is ongoing to this day. She also piloted a program with National Grid and the Lillian Feinstein Elementary School at Sackett Street.
Jen left BBBSRI for one year to pursue a career opportunity that more closely aligned with her love of youth development through creative and performing arts, but missed working at Big Brothers Big Sisters, and called her mentor and Executive Director Katje Afonseca, expressing a desire to return. Katje saw potential for Jen to work, not in programming but instead for the Big Sisters Fund, the Donation Center which raises funds for the mentoring program, and offered her a position as Donation Center Coordinator in 2018.
Over the past three years Jen has used data collection to make informed decisions that have helped increase collections and decrease costs in the Donation Center. Jen manages the Donation Center Attendants at our Middletown, Cranston, and Wakefield donation sites, as well as our Customer Service Representatives, who schedule home pickups. In 2020, Jen began managing the driver team as well.
Jen has a BA in Psychology from Rhode Island College with a double minor in Film Studies and Music. Jen is an accomplished guitarist and vocalist who often can be seen and heard playing music in and around Rhode Island. Jen lives in North Providence with her husband Steve; they are expecting their first child in October 2021.