Great Futures Moments - News Updates from BGCSTL

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Great Futures Moments - News from BGCSTL

A Message from our president, Dr. Flint Fowler

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented times for our country and Boys & Girls Clubs are not immune to its devastating impact. Although 2020 was an unusual year for us all, we remain thankful to our partners and funders for being flexible. In recognizing the times we are in they continued to ensure resources were in place that allowed us to operate and serve our youth. We are also grateful to our families for their patience as we quickly and thoughtfully pivoted our service delivery to a format that accommodated and considered all. This included virtual programs delivered by video, daytime support, virtual learning hubs, virtual mentoring, access to BGCSTL social workers, sharing of community food resources and more.

As we continue to plan for days ahead, especially summer camp, safety protocols continue to be in place to protect members, staff and families. This includes, having a Green Team in place to conduct health screenings and touch sanitizing after each program period, electrostatic backpack sprayers to assist with sanitization, and Air Scrubbers that remove and clean air within a given space six times in one hour. There are also screening kiosks at the front of each Club that measure temperatures and conduct contact tracing. Lastly, we are proud to report that zero cases of COVID-19 have originated from our organization since our reopening last summer.

I am pleased to share a few more of the initiatives that made 2020 one of most memorable in the history of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis.

2020 Highlights at a Glance:

Hats off to all of our supporters who stood alongside us during the challenges of 2020. Thanks to their incredible generosity, over $6.2 million was raised to deliver the life-changing programs and services of the BGCSTL
Over $550,000 in Covid relief grants were secured to help keep our blue doors of hope open for the over 10,800 children and teens we serve
The Federal Department of Health & Human Services renewed our $400,000 Fit and Fun grant aimed at providing safe, touch-free, interactive play
A very thoughtful and generous Heritage Club donor included us in their estate plan which resulted in a $400,000 legacy gift
In partnership with ARCHS (Area Resources for Community and Human Services), BGCSTL joined the launch of the Neighborhood Healing Network (NHN), a trauma-informed care service designed to improve the educational, economic, and health outcomes for the St. Louis community
Table for Four transformed into one of the nation's first virtual events, streaming live from our Teen Center of Excellence stage and featuring international keynote speaker and former National BGCA Youth of the Year Winner, Mona Dixon
Despite rain, lightning and the Covid-19 pandemic, the community rallied for our Club kids at Jim Butler's Charity Golf Classic. The event successfully raised nearly $290,000 to support programs focused on our three priority outcome areas of Academic Success, Good Character & Citizenship, and Healthy Lifestyles.
Our Great Futures Gala moved to a virtual format as well as an in-person-under-the-stars event, taking on a fun, 70's drive-in vibe as guests joined with emcee, Rene Knott, to cheer on our Youth of the Year finalists. Almost $470,000 of essential funds was raised to move our important mission forward for local children and teens
High school senior, Ja'Niyah Banks, was named our 2021 Youth of the Year winner. Embodying the mission of BGCSTL, Ja'Niyah was awarded the Wanda and Michael DeHaven $5,000 scholarship, a $4,000 renewable scholarship from Missouri State University, a celebratory dinner at the Saint Louis Club and a car from Frank Leta Automotive Group
From March 30 - June 13, 2020 our virtual programs videos reached over 98,000 people across all BGCSTL social media channels!!! This means they viewed, shared, clicked on, engaged with or saw the videos in their news feeds
Our media partners continued to promote our programs, events and successes in 2020! Media attention/coverage for the year included over 341 stories, reaching an audience of over 100,429,592 and a publicity value of $2.68 million

Finalized the merger with the St. Louis Internship Program, a seasoned workforce development program, where 195 BGCSTL members obtained job readiness skills through multiple weekly workforce development/job training sessions throughout the year; 122 applied for jobs/internships and obtained employment; 57 interns completed summer internships (97%); 51 participants completed summer employment through the Career Accelerators Program (CAP); 5 members successfully obtained employment at the St. Louis Zoo; 9 members successfully obtained employment at Old Navy; 59 out of 60 SLIP seniors graduated high school (98%); and, 53 SLIP interns participated in STLCC dual enrollment and earned up to four transferrable college credits
Retained Mentor St. Louis volunteers during the COVID pandemic to continue impacting students virtually this academic year
The Teen Center of Excellence hosted the National Hockey League on a two day event honoring the All Star game. Festivities included a Street ball hockey tournament with the Club teens and the NHL Black Hockey History Truck parked at the site for visitors. This mobile museum celebrates today’s stars and looks back at trailblazers who made history.
Once again BGCSTL was selected as one of the top Clubs in the country to implement the UPS Road Code teen safe driving program
Inducted six new former Club members into the BGCSTL Alumni Hall of Honor and celebrated staff, board members, volunteers and supporters for their commitment to our Club children with a virtual and in person Annual Recognition Event.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the Carter Carburetor superfund site cleanup completion and transferred ownership to BGCSTL to facilitate the construction of a golf activity center for youth
In late October, BGCSTL announced it had combined with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Bethalto, which has two locations in Illinois and, as of January 2021 has welcomed Mathews-Dickey to the BGCSTL family. The organization will now be one of the region’s largest youth development agencies serving more than 10,800 kids and teens annually. In addition, the expanded organization will produce better outcomes for all members, extend opportunities for staff professional growth and development, and boost fundraising.

Clubs are Open!

Many of our Boys & Girls Clubs are open and offering daytime support (in person/virtual), virtual learning hubs, after school programs, virtual mentoring & more!

Basketball programs are also starting at our Herbert Hoover and Mathews-Dickey Clubs.

Follow the link to see what the Club nearest you is offering. Safe and social distancing protocols are in place.

Boys & Girls Clubs is also planning to have summer day camp in several locations across MO & IL to serve as many children ages 6-18 as possible! The eight week camp will be from June 14 – August 6, 2021 and confirmed at Adams Park Club, Boys & Girls Club of Bethalto, Herbert Hoover Club, Mathews-Dickey Club, O’Fallon Park Club and Teen Center of Excellence. Social distancing and safety protocols will be in place *see above* Space will be limited. More details to come.

Welcome New Board Members

BGCSTL appreciates the following new board members for collaborating with us in working towards Great Futures for all children:

Adam W. Randle, Polsinelli Shareholder/Practice, Vice Chair

Taliya King, Accenture, Managing Director

Robert Kirkland, Stanley Black & Decker

Amy Liefer, CFRE, MSOL Vitas Healthcare, General Manager

Robert Minkler, Jr., CPA/CGMA Anders CPA, Managing Partner

Jessica Moore, Centene Corporation, Vice President of Corporate Strategy & Integration Management

John Stupp III, Stupp Bros., Inc., Director of the Office of Strategy Management

Nicole Tate, World Wide Technology Area Vice President, Global Client Enablement

Erika Williams, Advantage Capital, Vice President of Talent

Alan Winslow, Bethalto, IL, Mayor

Susan Yates, RCS Construction Inc., Part Owner

Virtual Mentor Moment

Athina Felton, Aspire Academy & Farragut Elementary Mentor, enjoys connecting virtually with BGCSTL members. She thanked us for allowing her to be a part of the opportunity saying, “I appreciate the fact that I’m able to exude my passion for the students on these calls. I actually enjoy every session that I attend. The breakout space was more personable and we (myself and the students) were able to have engaging conversations where we usually didn’t have in the bigger in person groups. In our breakout space we talk about societal topics such as the COVID vaccination which lead to personal conversations where I learned that my mentee Amelia wants to be a doctor and Jakaveon wants to be a rapper - after which we discussed how they could reach those goals. I also learned both of the students had a love for math especially the topic of division.”

More Virtual Mentors are needed, for more information, contact Syerra here.

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Kaldi’s Coffee continues their promotion of the “Great Futures Blend” where a portion of the proceeds support Club programs and services. Order for your office or individual packs, here.

ARCHS (Area Resources for Community and Human Services) partnered with BGCSTL on the launch of the Neighborhood Healing Network (NHN) program housed at our Adams Park Club. If you or someone you know needs additional resources OR help with social services, victim services, trauma workshops, support groups, etc, confidential assistance is available. Contact Brenisha at 314-335-8211 or here.

Thanks to our Grants partners!

We appreciate the following grant partners for their gifts that strengthen our programs, click here for a full list.

The mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis (BGCSTL) is to inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens. BGCSTL provides after-school, teen, sports and summer programs to youth across the Bi-State Region while also providing a safe place for them to learn and grow. The Clubs serve youth across the region at twelve locations, including (Adams Park Club, Boys & Girls Club of Bethalto, Boys & Girls Club of Lovejoy, Hazelwood Elementary School Club, Herbert Hoover Club, Mathews-Dickey Club, Normandy High School, O’Fallon Park Club, Riverview Gardens Club, Roosevelt High School, Hazelwood Southeast Middle School Club and the Teen Center of Excellence). We also operate the Mentor St. Louis and St. Louis Internship programs.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis

2901 North Grand Blvd

St. Louis, MO 63107

www.bgcstl.org

Phone: (314) 335-8000

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