The Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley has been selected by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to receive a grant in the amount of $45,000 to help underwrite costs related to the local Club’s College Bound program. The national organization has recognized the West Valley Club as one of the region’s most successful College Bound programs.
Program participants achieved a West Valley Club record 88 percent post-secondary education acceptance rate. Of 146 seniors participating in the program, 130 were accepted into either a two-or-four-year university, vocational school, or into the military, including such institutions as Harvard University, UCLA, CSUN and others.
“It is because of programs like College Bound that we can honestly say, “Great Futures Start Here…at the Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley,” said Lili Lozano, the Club’s College Bound Director.
College Bound is a results-driven program that encourages Club members, ages 6-17, to think about and plan for education beyond high school graduation. The Club reaches out to underserved students in order to increase college and career opportunities.
Particularly noteworthy is the fact that 97 percent of the seniors graduating in the West Valley Club’s program represent the first generation in their families to go to college.
There are more than 2,900 members of the Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley. Approximately 150 children visit the Main Clubhouse in Canoga Park each day, in addition to more than 600 children engaged in after-school activities at the Club’s six additional school sites.Website: wvbgc.org. Facebook: www.facebook.com/wvbgc.