Boys & Girls Clubs Of America recieves grant.
Boys & Girls Clubs Of America has been awarded a $25,000 grant.
Since 1947 Youth of the Year has been the Boys and Girls Clubs of America premier recognition program. The
program celebrates exceptional achievement of club members. Each year, one club member is selected to be
the Southeast Region Youth of the year. To achieve this honor, a club member must embody the values of
leadership and service, academic excellence, and healthy lifestyles. The National Youth of the Year serves as
both an exemplary ambassador for Boys & Girls Club youth, and as a strong voice for all of our nation’s
young people. Youth of the Year (YOY) participants embody the values of leadership, service, academic
excellence and healthy lifestyles; they exemplify the critical impact of Boys & Girls Clubs on the lives of young
people.
This grant will benefit Boys & Girls Club members and members of BGCA-affiliated Youth Centers located in
the Southeast Region of the United States, ages 14-18, who compete at the state, regional and national levels
for Youth of the Year titles.
A gift from the McQuade Foundation will be allocated to the Fund the Mission component of our Southeast
Youth of the Year event which is held annually in June. Funds raised through this effort help support clubs in
the region by providing critical resources to further expand the Youth of the Year program, support staff
development, and/or support initiatives such as the Year of the Teen. The 2017 total goal for Fund the
Mission is $200,000. Funding from the McQuade Foundation would be broken down as follows:
Local Club Support, $10,000 – provided to clubs in the southeast region to continue to support programming
at the local level such as Youth of the Year, Power Hour, Healthy Lifestyles, and STEM.
Year of the Teen, $12,500 – BGCA’s 3 year initiative to increase teen attendance at clubs by implementing
programs that attract teens such as workforce development, establishment of teen centers and the teen
summer programs that provides jobs for teens at their local Boys & Girls Club. Already we’ve seen an uptick
of 5% among teen attendance in 2016.
Executive Leadership Development, $2,500 – BGCA’s long term strategy provide every child with a stellar
experience at the Club by empowering and training staff and creating pathways for career development and
provide continuity and sustainability of staffing at the Club level.