The Boys & Girls Club Story

Pojoaque Pueblo: Teen Centers and More

Pojoaque Pueblo is one of the six Tewa-speaking Rio Grande Pueblos and is located in a rural, high desert area of Santa Fe County, N.M., with a population of about 1,900 and 373 enrolled tribal members.  Approximately 40% of its tribal population is under 18. The Pueblo has a long list of young families who qualify for low- to moderate- level income housing. 

The Pojoaque Pueblo Club created a teen center, complete with snack bar, framed college sports jerseys, television and cafe-style booths to give teens a space all their own.

The Pojoaque Pueblo Club has a college "wall of fame" to encourage members to think about life after high school.

Until the 1980's, the Pueblo’s unemployment rate was estimated at 80%. Due to the lack of economic opportunity, many tribal members lived and worked in neighboring Pueblos or communities and throughout the United States.  At that time, the Pueblo government undertook a major Community Development Plan.  They opened businesses including gas stations, hotels, a golf course, sandwich store and two other restaurants, a supermarket, a hardware store, a laundromat, a mobile home park and an apartment complex. The tribe also leases space to outside businesses. This has created 100% employment of tribal members. 

During the creation of the plan the tribe also focused on the health and success of its members across all ages.  They built a beautiful, full-service Wellness Center in 2003 and chartered a new Boys & Girls Club next door in 2008, creating a thriving partnership between the two.  Not only can Club members use the Wellness Center facilities, including the pool, weight room, classes and gym, but Club members often serve as volunteers and lifeguards at the Center. 

Linda Wiltse is BGCA's vice president of Program & Youth Development Services.

Earlier this year, the tribe reached another longed-for goal and opened a beautiful new Boys & Girls Club Teen Center across the street from the existing Club.  Take a look at these fantastic pictures for a few Teen Center “best practices”!

Inspiring Visits to Clubs Struck By Sandy

Last week, I visited three Boys & Girls Clubs in New Jersey still feeling the effects of Hurricane Sandy. The extent of the devastation was staggering. With Thanksgiving days away, I was reminded of all we have to be thankful for in our lives and how special life is to us all.

The day after Hurricane Sandy hit the New Jersey shore, a staff member paddles by the Hoboken Club to check on the building.

But what moved me most was Club staff members’ sheer inner fortitude and will to overcome almost insurmountable circumstances for the benefit of our children. These amazing individuals’ unflagging spirit enabled them to triumph over the harsh hand they’d been dealt. Many buildings and institutions in these communities won’t open their doors for a long time – far longer than it took our Clubs to clean up, rebuild and figure out a way to re-open or find an alternative Club for kids to attend.

On the Jersey shore, Executive Director Mekos Denson took us through the Chelsea Unit of the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City. After investing in renovations to give members a better Club experience, five-foot high flood waters had gutted the facility. With the unit closed indefinitely, the top priority is to coordinate transportation for Chelsea’s 100-plus members to the crosstown Pennsylvania Unit. Kids have been calling like crazy to find out when they can come back.

Despite major water and wind damage, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Union County re-opened in Union just days after Sandy hit. The storm tore off three roofs and did significant harm to the after-school Learning Center, swimming pool and two gymnasiums. CEO Russell Triolo credited the quick restart to staff members working around the clock to remove debris.

Three feet of water, courtesy of Sandy, left tons of mud and debris, destroying the gym floor in Hoboken.

In Hoboken, Executive Director Gary Greenberg led us through the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hudson County’s local unit. The destruction was stunning. Three-foot high flood waters had wiped out the ground floor, including the recently renovated Teen Center. An NBA-quality maple wood gym floor that Club youth took such pride in was now covered in grimy rubble.

On first seeing the facility, one staff member shared, he’d wondered if it was over in Hoboken, where kids need the Club so much. But dedicated professionals like Wafa Hubroman wouldn’t let that happen. Once the roads were drivable, the Unit Director began working 14-hour days to get the Club operating – despite no power or water at her home or at the Club.

It was also Wafa who arranged transportation for Hoboken members to their sister Club in Jersey City, impressing on them to respect their peers as part of the larger Club organization. The kids got along pretty well in Jersey City, where about 265 of them broke bread at the Club’s 37th annual Thanksgiving Dinner. Before serving them dinner, board volunteers greeted arriving Club kids with a receiving line of high-fives.

What I saw at these Clubs proved what I already knew deep inside. What we do at Boys & Girls Clubs is far more than a job. No matter what, we are here to serve the kids who need us the most. It was an emotional day, filled with hope and inspiration amid the brutal results of this natural disaster. I’ll never forget it.

The Rhythm of Mentoring: Poarch Band of Creek Indians

Around 1,750 Clubs received funding through the U.S. Office of Justice Program's (OJP) 2011-2012 mentoring grants. Each funded Club connected Club youth with mentors who, through a supportive and caring relationship, help them toward improved outcomes such as better school performance or attendance, healthier life choices, decreased involvement in the juvenile justice system, or enhanced family relations.

Through music, Greg McGhee connects with Club members from the Boys & Girls Club of The Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Atmore, Alabama.

Greg McGhee is a tribal member, youth counselor, and mentor at the Boys & Girls Club of The Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Atmore, Ala. Greg is also a drumming instructor who teaches drumming to five Club members in the mentoring program. The young men Greg mentors enjoy learning about their culture at the same time they’re learning about drumming. They also enjoy the company and have a good time when they get together, which enhances the “fun” element of their Boys & Girls Club experience.

Linda Wiltse is BGCA's vice president of Program & Youth Development Services.

Greg became involved with drumming when he was a child. He always loved the sounds of drumming at the local powwow. When he got older, he joined the powwow club and began to drum. He enjoys teaching drumming because of the tradition and values behind it. He wants youth to know their heritage and feels one of the best ways to learn is through drumming, which gives them a life-long connection to their culture.

Thank you, Denzel, for 20 Incredible Years

It was 20 years ago today that Denzel Washington graciously agreed to be National Spokesperson for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. The announcement came on The Arsenio Hall Show, the then-popular national late-night talk show. We could not be more grateful for Denzel’s ongoing celebration of Clubs.

Denzel knows firsthand the life-changing difference the Club can make in a kid’s life. At age 6, he joined the Boys Club of Mt.Vernon, N.Y. There, Club director Billy Thomas instilled in Denzel that, with dedication and hard work, he could achieve anything he set his mind to. At Billy’s request, past members who went on to college would bring him school pennants. Hung in a hallway near the gym, the pennants inspired Denzel and his fellow members that they, too, could become college students.

A two-time Academy Award winner, Denzel has used his celebrity to raise unprecedented awareness of Clubs. In interviews, he always mentions the positive impact the Club Experience has had on his life, including, for instance, recent cover stories in Delta Sky magazine and AARP: The Magazine.

BGCA Spokesperson Denzel Washington stars in the Where's Your Card public service announcement.

His personal contributions to Boys & Girls Clubs are staggering. They include appearances in five public service announcements, donating all proceeds of his best-selling book on mentoring to Clubs, and stirring audiences as keynote speaker at National Youth of the Year ceremonies.

Since 1996, Denzel has served on our Board of Governors. He is a member of the BGCA Alumni Hall of Fame. In 2004, we presented Denzel with our highest volunteer honor, the Herbert Hoover Humanitarian Award. I’m not sure how else to pay tribute to this selfless, accomplished individual, so I’ll simply end with our heartfelt gratitude.

On behalf of the nearly 4 million kids served at some 4,000 Clubs and affiliated Youth Centers on U.S. military installations: Thank you, Denzel, for 20 incredible years.

Emmonak Elders and the Boys & Girls Club

The Boys & Girls Club in Emmonak, Alaska, is one of the most remote in the United States. It located in a Yup'ik village with 796 residents located at the mouth of the Yukon River, which flows into the Bering Sea in Alaska. Commercial fishing for salmon and subsistence activities, including hunting and trapping, drive the local economy.

After several youth suicides in the mid-1990's the Emmonak Elders Group was established in 1997 to respond to increasing social problems in the village. Although they had always been an integral part of the cultural and social fabric of Emmonak, they began to exert greater influence in community decisions to pass down traditional knowledge and wisdom to try to address the suicides as well as juvenile delinquency.

Our Club in Emmonak, Alaska, is located in a remote fishing village near the Yukon River.

Emmonak Elders have taken several paths to work on youth challenges in the village, including hearing delinquency cases that had been referred by the Juvenile Justice Office in the past, and starting a youth group that became the Emmonak Boys & Girls Club in 2002.

The Club has worked to help their children and youth grow up in a positive place. In the face of delinquency, which peaked in 2006, economic struggles from the current recession, a flood that finally closed the old Club space for good, and devastating salmon harvests in 2012, the community has continued to persevere. Delinquency charges dropped to a total of 10 in 2011.

Linda Wiltse is BGCA's vice president of Program & Youth Development Services.

A partnership among Emmonak Tribal Council, the City of Emmonak, Kwik'pak fisheries, the Rasmuson Foundation and Boys & Girls Clubs of Southcentral Alaska Clubs resulted in a new Club facility in 2011. The Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault funded Passport to Manhood programming to promote good character and citizenship. The Club will also be working to pilot a Delinquency Prevention Initiative for BGCA in 2012-2013 that focuses on bringing traditional tribal culture into efforts to reduce delinquency and gang activity that, if successful, can be used in other areas of Indian Country.

Every community has its struggles, but the people of Emmonak, in partnership with their Boys & Girls Club, keep moving forward and working toward a brighter future for their youth.

Hurricane Sandy Club Relief Fund

As Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts continue, most Boys & Girls Clubs in the region are now open. In fact, many have been providing food and shelter to the people of their communities.

But it pains me to say that two of our New Jersey Clubs suffered major damage that has left their facilities inoperable and closed indefinitely. It’s a bad situation.

BGCs of Hudson County Executive Director Gary Greenberg surveys damage at the Hoboken Club.
Credit: Chris Costa and Claire Moses, Patch.com

In Hoboken, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hudson County saw the entire ground floor of its Dalton Unit flooded, causing severe damage to the gym and cafeteria. The Club’s backyard is covered by a dense coat of oil. The situation is also dire for the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City, where its Chelsea Unit suffered extensive damage to its roof and HVAC system.

The extent to which insurance will contribute to restorations remains to be seen. If there’s any good news, perhaps it’s this: you can help with a donation to BGCA’s Hurricane Sandy Club Relief Fund.

The Hoboken Club’s gym floor will need to be completely replaced.
Credit: Chris Costa and Claire Moses, Patch.com

Your gift will help re-build and re-supply Clubs. It will enable Clubs to continue to provide the services that the youth of their communities depend on. Be assured that 100 percent of Relief Fund donations will go to support Boys & Girls Clubs impacted by the storm.

Please consider giving today to help make a decisive difference for thousands of kids at a critical time in their lives. Thank you.

Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Indian Reservation

In our second installment of profiles of our Native American communities served by Boys & Girls Clubs, we feature our Club and community in Pine Ridge, S.D.

Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Indian Reservation
The Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Indian Reservation is located in the southwest corner of South Dakota, fifty miles east of the Wyoming border.  At 11,000 square miles, it’s the second-largest reservation in the US.  97% of the population at Pine Ridge Reservation live below federal poverty line; the median income is between $2,500 and $3,500 per year and unemployment is between 85 and 95%. “Home-grown” and extremely violent gangs are taking over entire sections of the rez.  The infant mortality rate is the highest on this continent and is about 300% higher than the U.S. national average.  Diane Sawyer did a 20/20 special report in late 2011 (A Hidden America: Children of the Plains) that focused attention on life on Pine Ridge and can be watched online. 

Linda Wiltse is BGCA's vice president of Program & Youth Development Services.

However, the young people of Pine Ridge felt the special was one-sided and went for the more sensational aspect over a balanced portrait of the joys as well as the struggles of reservation life.  In reply, they created the video linked below, which includes many Boys & Girls Club members at Todd County High School.  Watch it and marvel at their spirit and hope!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FhribaNXr7A

Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe, Hayward, Wis.

Welcome to Native American Heritage Month – and the celebration of twenty years of Boys & Girls Clubs in Indian Country!  Over the next four weeks, we’ll spotlight some of the issues our tribal youth face, and the creative and inspiring ways in which our Clubs are rising to address those challenges that demonstrate wonderful spirit, resilience, and sense of community. 

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Band
The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe homeland consists of 76,000 acres of reservation land in Hayward, Wis. There are about 7,000 enrolled tribal members, 2,600 of whom live on or near the reservation.  Poverty is the biggest issue for the LCO Band; unemployment is around 70% and brings a host of other problems such as substance abuse and health issues. 

Club members from Boys & Girls Club of Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Band.

However, the Boys & Girls Club of Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Band is out to change those statistics for the next generation.  Members had a terrific time including the "BE GREAT" theme with their summer fun! Club members rode on a float in their local parade.  The theme for the float, "Opening the Door to the Next 20 Years in Indian County," came from Club staff's experience at BGCA’s 106th Annual National Conference in May.

Linda Wiltse is BGCA's vice president of Program & Youth Development Services.

Club members also painted ceiling tiles describing what BE GREAT means to them. They want everyone who enters the building to know that a "GREAT Future Starts Here!" During the Club's National Night Out, over 100 community members and Club families participated. The summer ended with a community event called "Healing Field, Finding Common Ground” to pay tribute to the strength of their community while they continue to find common ground between natives and non-natives.