The Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley is now able to grow its workforce development program and make some much-needed renovations to its facility with the aid of two $500,000 contributions.
Two large sized ceremonial checks representing the $1 million donation were presented to the Pacoima based non profit on Friday, June 21, by Congressman Tony Cárdenas and Assemblymember Luz Rivas.
The first donation is already being put to use towards the club’s workforce program, which offers mentorship and skills training. The goal is to increase youth employment.
The Boys and Girls Club itself hires the young adults from the program. “It’s not just for the summer,” said Nicole Chase, club president and CEO. “It’s going to allow us to actually make them part time and into full time, which is that career trajectory that’s always a struggle [to develop]. It will allow us not just to hire, but to create the structure to give them the soft skills or to further enhance their soft skills, develop that teamwork … and build a dynamic team.”
The skills they learn on the job will make them more competitive in the job market, Chase said, and it will help to “level the playing field” against other young adults from more affluent areas.
For teens whose high school and college experiences were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a loss of work skills that they would’ve normally acquired. The program, Chase said, helps to close that gap and reintroduce those skills.
“We really want to make sure that when you want to put your best foot forward, there’s a place to come to where you can do that. And that’s the Boys & Girls Club,” said Cárdenas, who referred to the funding as an investment toward the youth at the club.
The club will also be using the funding to make upgrades and renovations to the facility – one high on the list is fixing the HVAC system to keep the gymnasium cool during triple-digit heat.
Among the renovations is the redesign of their learning center, where they currently hold their tutoring and mentoring sessions. The center will become the Panda Care Center for Hope using a grant from the Panda Cares Foundation – the philanthropic arm of Panda Express – as well as funding from Cárdenas.
As Chase explained, for kids to come out of school only to enter another room that looked like a classroom wasn’t ideal, so this was an opportunity to change it up. The room will still include a library. The redesign is scheduled to be completed in mid-July.
“We will still have tutoring, mentoring and the library … but the color and the messages on the walls are going to be motivating and inspiring,” Chase said. “That’s where a lot of our academic enrichment will continue to flourish.”
The club has several other areas it hopes to renovate or upgrade with the funds, including redoing the art room; adding more cameras to its security system; enhancing the garden area; making the front entrance an information hub for resources and events in the community; and adding what Chase called “exergames” to the games room – games that are a “combination of technology and your traditional gaming” that will test the kids’ skills with hand-eye coordination, physical movement and quantitative skills.
With all these future projects and improvements on the horizon due to the funding, Chase said it takes off a lot of the worry in their day-to-day operations. It also empowers the club to receive more funds in the future, as foundations tend to give money to nonprofits that have previously been granted funding.
She hopes that the club will be able to continue developing more robust programs and increasing its partnerships with the Los Angeles Unified School District and charter schools.
“Being innovative and creating massive opportunities for young people while addressing those achievement gaps, … we’re tackling it little by little by little,” Chase said.
Chase added that something that has plagued the community is the desire among youth to leave the area behind rather than wanting to remain where they were raised. She believes that if pathways are created to connect young people to large industries, it could allow the local community to flourish and more people will stay.
“I want our young people to understand why this is the best part of the valley,” Chase said, “[and] to get them to stay here to build their careers, have their families and to make it a safer community.”