The Boys & Girls Club Story

Celebrating Native Clubs and Culture

In conjunction with Native American Heritage Month this November, leaders of nearly 50 tribes and Boys & Girls Club professionals gathered in Scottsdale, Ariz., last week for a special summit.

BGCA is committed to enhancing and expanding our work in Native communities to reach those who need us most.

Great Futures in Indian Country drew more than 180 participants. A “grand entry” – a solemn processional borrowed from Native culture – opened the summit. As the tribes entered, a drum group played an honor song. Tribal flags held aloft, the procession moved clockwise, forming a circle that would not dissolve until the song was complete.

Attendees were provided with tremendous opportunities to learn, share ideas and deepen relationships. Sessions generated outside-the-box thinking and creative dialogue on how Native Clubs, and Clubs with Native sites, can deepen impact on young people and develop stronger organizations to better meet community needs.

BGCA has partnered with Native communities across the country for more than two decades. The rich tradition and culture found in these communities lends Clubs on Native Lands a unique energy.

At the same time, the needs in these communities, especially for their young people, are great. For instance, while high school graduation is a serious issue for all our youth – every year, 1 in 4 students fails to graduate – it’s even more pronounced for Native youth; only about 50 percent will graduate from high school on time.

That’s why we’re so committed to enhancing and expanding our work in Native communities – to truly reach those who need us most.

Underlying all our efforts is a deep appreciation and respect for Native culture, a commitment that the Native Club Experience continues to celebrate the distinctive way of life and history in Indian Country.

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”!

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.

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.

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.