Our Vision: To inspire and enable all
young people, especially those from challenging circumstances, to achieve their
full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.
Our Mission: To provide
school age children and youth of Orange County with a professionally
supervised, consistent environment where they are safe, equally accepted and
able to participate in goal-oriented programs that enhance their self-esteem
and assist them to achieve their full potential.
Our Purpose: To instill in
young people a sense of competence, a sense of belonging and a sense of power
and influence, especially over their own lives as well as the community.
CASE STATEMENT
The Need is Great: Meet the Williams
Family from the Pine Knolls neighborhood. Jamie Williams is a single mother of
six children between the ages of 2 and 15. She knows first-hand the dangers
children face. As a youth, she frequently got into trouble and even ran away
from home. Ms. Williams was active in one program, but it was only one day a
week. And she had no other structure to her days after school. Ms. Williams
recently took on a full-time job. On one hand, the job helps her provide for
her kids. However she is now unable to consistently watch over her kids. Due to
the drug, gang and prostitution activity in the neighborhood, Ms. Williams
worries about her kids hanging out after school and on the weekends. She does
not have enough help to watch over them, help with homework, make healthy
snacks or ensure that they are learning to be productive and healthy members of
the Chapel Hill community. Ms. Williams tries to teach her children the
difference between right and wrong, but there just are not enough hours in a
day for a single mother of six. The Williams Family is not alone.
600 families in Chapel Hill and Carrboro live on less than $15,000 per year4
Ms. Williams would love to put her school-aged kids into one of
the existing Chapel Hill or Carrboro afterschool programs. However she cannot
afford to pay the hundreds of dollars of monthly fees for tuition and
transportation. It is difficult to receive scholarships for an entire family. And all of the current programs in Chapel
Hill and Carrboro are at full capacity with extensive waiting lists.
Prices for after school programs in Chapel Hill and Carrboro range anywhere from $200 to $600 per month per child.
Ms. Williams would love to find an afterschool program that her
children could easily get to and from that was structured, well-rounded,
properly supervised, and most importantly, safe. Every day she hopes for a
place, like a Boys and Girls Club, that would be in her neighborhood and
affordable, even in the toughest economic times.
The Orange County Unit of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Eastern
Piedmont is working to open Chapel Hill’s first Boys and Girls Club in the Pine
Knolls Community near downtown and on a major bus route. Best of all, this club
will cost its members only $10 - $20 per Year!
The Positive Place for Kids: After
school, the Williams kids are faced with many of life’s harshest realities.
Jason and Rodney, the two oldest children, have classmates that drink alcohol
and use drugs. As teenagers, they easily become bored with no after school
activities. Ms. Williams’ pleas to stay at home are ignored. They sometimes run
into a rough crowd, which includes more and more of their peers as they get
older. She’s taught them right from wrong, but fears that drinking, smoking and
drugs may start to seem more and more normal as her children get older. Ms.
Williams is terrified that they will give into peer pressure one day soon.
• Avoiding Drugs and Alcohol: Club
involvement helps youth resist negative behaviors. A 2007 survey showed that
two-thirds of Club alumni (67 %) believe the Club had a positive impact in
helping them make responsible choices about drugs and alcohol. 1
• Public Housing: When compared
to other public housing sites, those with Clubs experienced a 25 % reduction in
the presence of crack cocaine, a 22 % reduction in overall drug activity and a
13 % reduction in juvenile crime. 2
• Gang Prevention and Intervention: More than 1900 youth at-risk or on the fringe of gang
involvement were recruited and mainstreamed into ongoing programs at 33 clubs.
At the end of one year, 48% of youth mainstreamed into Club programs
demonstrated improved school behavior and more than one-third showed improved
grades. 3
• Good Character: Boys &
Girls Clubs focus on helping kids develop leadership skills and good character.
The majority of Club alumni (85 %) say that staff members helped them to know
right from wrong. 1
Bryanna and AJ, 6 and 9 respectively, are embarking on those
critical years of early education. If they do not grasp reading, writing and
math concepts now, they will spend the rest of school years playing catchup.
Unfortunately, they lack the support that all kids of that age need to stay on
top of their homework. It is difficult to focus with two teenagers and two
toddlers around the house. And they often need help. But their grandmother, who
helps around the house, is usually busy with the toddlers. A quiet place to
study and some tutoring would certainly help keep Bryanna and AJ on track to
succeed in middle school, high school and beyond.
• Education: Boys &
Girls Clubs engage youth in Power Hour, to help them with homework and focus on
education and career development. Club youth are more likely to attend college
than the overall U.S. population. 90% of Club alumni graduated from high school
or earned an equivalent degree, compared to a national average of 85 %.1
• The Arts: Boys & Girls Clubs
introduce children to art activities and music appreciation. Academics are not
the only challenge. Ms. Williams keeps healthy snacks in the house for her
children to have after school. But chips, cookies and soda are much more
appealing. Her kids do not understand the long-term health implications of junk
food and no exercise.
• Health & Fitness: BGCA’s emphasis
on health and fitness pays off for youth. Four-fifths of Club alumni (80 %)
reported that the Club had a positive impact in teaching them about health and
fitness. 1
• Life Skills: Boys &
Girls Clubs help children develop life skills with programs such as NetSmartz,
SMART Moves, SMART Girls and Passport to Manhood.
• Fifty-two percent (52%) of adults who attended Clubs say that it
saved their lives!
It Just Takes One: The good news
is that it’s not too late to help the Williams family and hundreds of other
families in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and the rest of Orange County. The Orange
County Unit of Boys and Girls Club of Eastern Piedmont is working tirelessly to
open Chapel Hill’s first Club, with clubs in other areas of the Orange County
to follow. But we need your help. We have embarked on our Founder’s Campaign to raise money for our first year of operation and the
renovation and expansion of the Pine Knolls Community Center on Johnson Street
(which is off of Merritt Mill Road and behind the Lincoln Center). Our goal is
to open by the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year. We must raise $250,000
by August 2010 in order to meet our goals.
We need the financial support of caring people like you to help
us reach the children who need us most. Your investment gives the Boys &
Girls Clubs the chance to develop a generation of young Americans who are
productive and caring citizens. They will become our community, national and world leaders, exhibiting
strong character and integrity to build a better life for themselves, better
communities for their fellow citizens and a stronger America.
You can make an impact in the life of a child by providing a
safe, secure and stimulating environment through the Boys & Girls Club. Be the one!
Print Case Statement (PDF)
1.
Source: Boys & Girls Club of America, “YOUTH TRENDS, An Environmental
Scan in
Support of Impact 2012”, 2008.
2.
Source: Study led by Steven P. Schinke, PhD, of Columbia University and a
team of
independent researchers. The study involved 15 different public housing
developments
over a three year period.
3.
Source: A study conducted by Portland State University and the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
examined 33 Boys & Girls Clubs participating in the BGCA
Gang
Prevention/Intervention program.
4.
Source: 2007 U.S. Census Bureau 2007 data.