GREAT FUTURES START HERE

GREAT FUTURES START HERE.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Gaston is a youth development organization for ages 6 to 18, which includes three units: Bessemer City Club, Bradley Teen Center, and the West Gastonia Club. In every community, youth are left to find their own recreation and companionship in the streets. An increasing number of children are at home with no adult care or supervision. They need to know that someone cares about them. Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Gaston offers that and more.

 Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Gaston programs and services promote and enhance the development of youth by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging, and influence. We serve over 1,300 youth each year through valuable afterschool, summer and outreach programs.

 Our five core program areas are:

¨ Character & Leadership Development

¨ Education & Career Development

¨ Health & Life Skills

¨ Sports, Fitness & Recreation

¨ The Arts

 Facts and Figures  

Only 78% of students in Gaston County will graduate on time. Out of the hundreds of B&G Club members that have participated in “Power Hour”, we have had only 1 who did not graduate on time.

For every 1,000 girls ages 15-19 in Gaston County, 48 will become pregnant.Over 400 B&G Club girls have participated in “SMART Girls” and “SMART Moves” and 0 pregnancies have occurred.

 There are 1,100 gang members in Gaston County and 140 different gang sets. Over 500 B&G Club youth have participated in “Street Smart” and 99% have not been involved with gangs or juvenile crime.

 58% of students in Gaston County receive free lunch and 54% receive reduced lunch.  B&G Club feeds all members every night, which totals about 56,500 meals throughout the school year.

It costs B&G Club $2,700/yr. for each child to cover the cost of materials, programming, and food. Parents only pay $265 for their child’s membership at B&G Club, where they learn character and leadership skills, education and career development, health and life skills, sports and fitness, and the arts.

 

Chad Melvin, Operations Director

Digging Deeper Introduction

An Introduction to Digging Deeper To: Current and Potential Leaders in Gaston County For several years I have considered writing about major human issues right here at home in Gaston County. Is now the time to begin? Yes, I think so and hope you will agree. The highlights are: about 304 “leaders” across Gaston County are in my network. friends have agreed to help, especially writing on issues for which they are both well informed and have high passion. 102 topics have thus far been accumulated. Most are about our human issues. and, we will report newsworthy stuff with high emphasis on applying business principles of continuous improvement. Please take a look at our guidelines and purpose statement listed below. I hope you will help this ship float by reading, giving serious thought, making comments, taking action yourself, and encouraging others to become involved. Look for the second letter soon with a starter list of future letters with authors. Sincerely, Bill Seabrook

Guidelines 1. Publish monthly or when inspiration dominates 2. Each publication limited to one page 3. Quick read of serious stuff relating to human issues in Gaston County 4. Emphasize connection with Gaston Faith Network 5. Seek contributions and memberships 6. Use RIch Galen’s and Richard Rohr’s newsletter as models 7. Focus will be on positive, negatives and CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT 8. Promote leadership at all levels 9. Offer thoughts by guest writers, who are informed on subjects that fit 10. Issue calls to action! 11. Establish measurements: measure and report quarterly

Purpose  1. To inform current and potential leaders in Gaston County of problem issues, mostly human issues, which need continuous improvement. 2. To strengthen the culture where we live 3. To actively promote: “Now that you know, what will you do?” 4. To encourage networking and collaboration as means to getting the needed work done