Franai White began volunteering with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Birmingham in 2018, mentoring a 12-year-old, Alyssa Moko.

“She reminded me so much of myself at 12,” White said. “She was initially quiet and really smart and very much an introvert.”

Alyssa recently turned 18 and will graduate soon from Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham.

“She is very outgoing, very popular,” White said. “She is the vice president of her class, and she was the homecoming queen. She has grown so much. She is extremely confident. She has opinions. She has goals. She talks a lot more than what she used to. I’m so proud of her.”

In December, the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization named Franai and Alyssa the “big” and “little” sisters of the year for Greater Birmingham.

“It has given me the opportunity to encourage her,” White said of their pairing six years ago. “Kids today face so much peer pressure, bullying online or in-person, so I always tried to make sure that I gave her the opportunity and the spaces to speak up.”

Sue Johnson, CEO of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Birmingham, said that over several decades working with the organization, she’s witnessed mentors volunteering with youth and dramatically changing their life trajectories and expectations.

“I have seen a whole generation of children grow up with positive role models,” Johnson said. “It changes their lives.”

Kimberly Jackson, president of Big Brother/Big Sisters of Greater Birmingham, said the organization is able to mentor about 1,000 youth in the metro area thanks to volunteers and support for the organization.

Johnson announced Tuesday at the Birmingham City Council meeting that White has been voted Big Sister of the Year for Alabama and is nominated for national recognition. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin praised the organization’s impact on youth through mentoring.

Although she can’t take credit for the growth and maturation she’s seen in Alyssa through six years, White tries to sum up ways in which she thinks she helped through her volunteer effort.

“It was an excellent fit from the start,” White said.

“Over the years we have practiced just speaking up in public, how to greet people when you meet them, simple things like how to order for yourself when you go to restaurants,” she said. “I don’t speak for her, ever. She speaks for herself. That is something I really pressed upon her. I will not speak for her ever. I’ll always advocate for her, but in spaces where she can speak for herself, I definitely encourage her to speak for herself. She definitely found her voice.”

White learned many of the same lessons from her mother, civil rights activist Frances White, who grew up next door to her pastor, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, across the street from Bethel Baptist Church in Collegeville.

Frances White grew up with and was friends with the Shuttlesworth children and took part in protests including a 1960 lunch counter sit-in at the segregated Pizitz Department Store in downtown Birmingham. At 15, she was arrested and ordered into a police car by Public Safety Commissioner Eugune “Bull” Connor, then taken to a juvenile detention center.

Franai White, a program specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, grew up hearing the lessons of her mother standing up to legalized segregation, with the model of non-violence shared by Shuttlesworth.

Shuttlesworth, who was pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Collegeville from 1956-61, died in 2011.

“She still remains close with the Shuttlesworth family,” Franai White said of her mother.

“She always taught me to help people and to speak up for myself,” White said. “And of course she always said if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything. I heard that a lot as a child.”

Franai and her two older sisters took those lessons to heart.

“She just instilled in us to always stand up for ourselves and to help other people,” White said. “If we’re nearby, never let other people be mistreated or suffer regardless of the situation.”

When Franai volunteered with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, her mother encouraged her.

“She was very supportive of my match with Alyssa,” Franai said. “My whole family has been super-supportive and really encouraging about reaching back and helping others. I think it’s important for kids to see there are people who are successful that come from the same neighborhoods they’re from.”

White now feels a lot of the affirmations she showered on Alyssa coming back to her.

“The way we grew up is so different, different generations,” White said of Alyssa. “But the same way I look out for her, she looks out for me.”