Proud to be from Pittsburgh: "Bigs in Blue" program

Big Brothers Big Sisters has a new twist in Pittsburgh, a program called "Bigs in Blue".

Part of the program involves pairing local children up with FBI agents, to let them learn more about law enforcement. The FBI's Pittsburgh office may be the first in the nation to mentor children through the program.

"It was one of those programs where I knew that our office could give back something to the community," said Chad Yarbrough, assistant special agent in charge at the FBI's Pittsburgh office.

Every two weeks, students from Pittsburgh Greenfield come to the FBI's offices for some time with their "Bigs."

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"The object of the program is to overcome that negativity in the community that law enforcement is the bad guys. That they're here to help and at the end of the day they're parents, they're friends, they're brothers, sisters, and they just want to combat that negativity in the community together," said Maggie Giel, the program director for Big Brothers Big Sisters.

"I actually really like this program," said Daniel Hinton, a fifth-grader at Pittsburgh Greenfield.

The children involved said spending fun with their Bigs at the FBI isn't just rewarding, but also fun.

"It's fun, and I get to play with my FBI partner," said Jazzlyn Evans, a fifth-grader at Pittsburgh Greenfield.

"It's definitely something that everyone looks forward to, and you know, we try to obviously make it to where our schedule fits it in every week, and you know as the kids leave each day we all stay behind and talk, and we all just really enjoy that time with these littles, and reflect on it before we head back to work and kind of deal with all the issues that we deal with," said Yarbrough.

Yarbrough said the FBI is hoping to continue the program with the same students paired with the same employees over the next few years.