Special thanks to Papa John’s Pizza for giving Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis members access to digital coupons for FREE medium one topping pizzas. The coupons are to recognize members for their engagement in our virtual programming. Virtual programming for Club and regional families launched on March 30, 2020 in an effort to continue to serve members during the Club closure. BGCSTL President Dr. Flint Fowler says, “We’re proud to be a national partner of Papa John’s, especially during these challenging times for our communities.”

For more information on how the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis is helping our community, visit www.bgcstl.org.

Congratulations to O’Fallon Park Club teen Lailah Green who was honored with the Joan Ellyn Silber Volunteerism & Leadership award and a $1,000 scholarship! Dr. Silber’s brother and sister-in-law established the award and endowment to celebrate her being one of the organization’s most dedicated board members and supporters.

Lailah is an 8th grade scholar at McKinley Classical Middle School with thirty hours of volunteering as a Peer Tutor and Keystone Club participant. Her favorite volunteer experience was a Keystone holiday community service activity at a local nursing home where she helped residents participate in making arts & crafts. She is currently the Secretary of Keystone at her Club. During her interview she spoke HIGHLY of how much Club Manager Kersten Mixon has impacted her life.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis (BGCSTL) welcomes new board members Deborah Massingill, Nick Ragone, Matthias Renner, Megan Ridgeway and Amadou Yattassaye.

Deborah Massingill is the Package Operations Manager for UPS, Central Plains District that includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and part of Illinois. She has responsibility for 9 divisions and more than 9,300 employees.

Nick Ragone serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for Ascension. In this role, he oversees the creation and execution of brand strategy and experience, marketing and advertising, public relations and thought leadership, social media strategy, internal communications, and consumer access for Ascension and its subsidiaries.

Matthias Renner is the President of National Real Estate Management Corp. and responsible for the overall operation of a $600,000,000 commercial real estate business.

Megan Ridgeway is Principal of Arcturis where she sets the strategic direction of the firm while also overseeing the day-to-day operations of the practice.

And, Amadou Yattassaye serves as the Plan President of the Missouri Commercial & Specialty Business Division (CSBD) for Anthem, Inc. where he is responsible for Anthem’s commercial business.

For more information on how the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis is helping our community, visit www.bgcstl.org.

The mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis (BGCSTL) is to inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens. For over 50 years, BGCSTL has been providing after-school, teen, sports and summer programs to youth in the St. Louis area while also providing a safe place for them to learn and grow. The Clubs serve youth across St. Louis City & County including Adams Park Club, Hazelwood Elementary School Club, Herbert Hoover Club, O’Fallon Park Club, Riverview Gardens Club, Hazelwood Southeast Middle School Club and the Teen Center of Excellence. We also operate dropout prevention programs within two High Schools (Normandy and Roosevelt High School); as well as the Mentor St. Louis and St. Louis Internship programs.
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On Wednesday, October 16, at the Enterprise Center, one hundred children (including 50 Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis members) received beds of their own courtesy of Ashley Homestore’s Hope to Dream program! Ashley HomeStore partnered with their favorite NHL team – the St. Louis Blues to help pull the afternoon off. The kids enjoyed activities, games and interacting with Blues players throughout the evening and then surprised with the big reveal – their very own beds behind the curtain on the concourse waiting for them! Each child went home with comforters, pillows and sheets and their new mattresses will be delivered directly to their homes.

“One of the most special moments I have is being able to share stories, say prayers and tuck my kids in at night knowing they’ll be safe, comfortable, and well rested,” explained Chad Spencer, CEO of local Ashley HomeStore licensee, Dufresne Spencer Group (DSG). “This is a security not every parent and child currently have – we want to change that through programs like Hope to Dream.”

It is the third time that Ashley Homestore and the St. Louis Blues have partnered to provide children with their own beds and they’ve donated 475 beds to date!

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis (BGCSTL) annual Great Futures Gala, will be held on Friday, November 8th at the Chase Park Plaza.

The “Great Futures Gala is the largest fundraiser benefitting youth at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis and showcases the youth who embody the ideals of the Club’s mission to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens! The highlight of the evening will be the selection of the 2020 Youth of the Year!

Club teens and Youth of the Year candidates will share their stories of how the Club has impacted their lives throughout the evening as well as a reception, sit down dinner and an after party with dancing and a performance from the Denise Thimes Ensemble.

Event proceeds are used to send teens to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Keystone Leadership Conference as well as provided support for the Diplomas to Degrees program, Mentor St. Louis, Keystone Clubs, Money Matters, and Career Launch programs.

Event Co-chairs: Keith & Andrea Lueking, Rufus & Mercia Moore and Jim & Mindy Watson

If you’ll be missing the celebration, we invite you to volunteer, donate, mentor or register your youth for membership. For ticket information, visit www.bgcstl.org.

Thanks to the following sponsors for their support: Lead Sponsor, Emerson Foundation; Presenting Sponsors, Centene Corporation, Dowd Bennett, LLP and Midwest BankCentre; Great Futures Sponsors, Argent Capital Management LLC, Express Scripts/Cigna and Stifel Nicolaus; Youth of the Year Sponsors, Ameren, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Ascension, Bayer, Enterprise Holdings, EY, Greensfelder Hemker & Gale, P.C., Laborers’ International Union of North America, Paul & Laura Miller, Spire Energy, St. Louis Cardinals, Thompson Coburn LLP and U.S. Bank.

Calendar Format
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis
Great Futures Gala
November 8, 2019
6 pm
Chase Park Plaza
www.bgcstl.org

About Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis
The mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis (BGCSTL) is to inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens. For over 50 years, BGCSTL has been providing after-school, teen, sports and summer programs to youth in the St. Louis area while also providing a safe place for them to learn and grow. The Clubs now serve St. Louis youth at ten locations (Adams Park Club, Hazelwood Elementary School Club, Herbert Hoover Club, Lee Hamilton Elementary School Club, O’Fallon Park Club, Riverview Gardens Club, Hazelwood Southeast Middle School Club and the Teen Center of Excellence). We also operate dropout prevention programs within two High Schools (Normandy and Roosevelt High School); as well as the Mentor St. Louis and St. Louis Internship programs.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis
Celebrates Opening of
Teen Center of Excellence in Ferguson, MO
First in the Country Center to Focus on Serving Teens ages 12-18 in the St. Louis Area

The community came together to celebrate the opening of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis Teen Center of Excellence in Ferguson, Missouri. The $12.4M center is one of the first in the county and will serve all teens ages 12-18, giving them a safe and prolific place to go each day after school and during the summer.

Friends and supporters from the across the region witnessed the groundbreaking ceremony last September. In search of a solution to the problems facing too many metro area children, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis was encouraged by civic leaders to expand services in neighborhoods with extreme scarcity of quality youth programming which led to the building of a Teen Center. The 26,856 square-foot facility is strategically located on West Florissant Avenue surrounded by four school districts and houses a nutrition education center, outdoor garden, gymnasium, intellectual commons, theater, green and drama room, fitness zone, gaming room, music and art studio, innovation center and office space. BGCSTL projects serving more than 1,500 teens annually.

BGCSTL president, Dr. Flint Fowler says of the opening, “This is certainly a proud moment in the history of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis. Teens deserve a safe place to grow and learn, exercise their creativity, explore their interests, and build meaningful relationships with peers and caring adults. Imagine how wonderful it would be if every community expressed this level of support for children. We are also excited to be a part of the wave of development along West Florissant including the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis’s Empowerment Center and Plaza, the street scape project, Mercy Health Clinic and development of the Maline Greenway.”

Research indicates that teens can thrive in spaces structured around responsibility, belonging, and leadership modeling. Caring, trained adults are necessary to help teens build their assets and promote responsible decision-making skills. Data also shows that they want a space that provides respite from the pressures of school, family responsibilities or the danger of the streets; a place where they can have positive interactions with peers, meet new friends and take advantage of informal relationships with adults who assist them in their area of interest. The Club works with teens as they learn to think critically, use their voice in healthy ways, and discover who they are and how their purpose intersects with their world. It is through this work that hope thrives. Teens want hope – – and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis offers hope and opportunity.

Programming will include an emphasis on health & wellness (ie yoga, healthy habits, open gym), education & workforce development (ie college tours, ACT/SAT prep, tutoring, job readiness, internships and summer employment), STEAM (ie visual and performing arts, coding, app creation, robotics) and, leadership & civic engagement (ie, community service, character programs, advocacy training).

“At Boys & Girls Clubs, we know that keeping teens engaged in experiences at our Clubs, translates to positive outcomes around graduating from high school, abstaining from drugs and alcohol, and preparing for a great future,” said Jim Clark, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of America. “We can clearly see our future, by how we set up our kids and teens to be successful. The time young people spend after-school and during the summer is critical for ensuring all kids and teens have the same opportunities and experiences. I applaud Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis for creating dynamic spaces and programming for the new Teen Center of Excellence, which will make a positive impact on young people in this community for years to come.”

Construction partners on the project were Arcturis, KAI Design and Build, and The Striler Group. The Teen Center opens in mid-November to teens. Registration/membership is $25. To register click here or call 314-335-8240.

To view pictures from the Grand Opening, click here.
To view AND share our ABC 30 commercial promoting the Teen Center of Excellence, click here.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis and St. Louis Internship Program Combine Forces to Address Workforce Opportunities for Teens

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis has partnered with the St. Louis Internship Program to foster greater opportunities for area teens in the career and workforce readiness space and prepare more young people in the St. Louis Market for jobs.

The goal of the St. Louis Internship Program (SLIP) is to provide hope and opportunity for high school students through paid summer internships, intensive employability training, and year-round college and career planning. SLIP works in partnership with businesses and community organizations, to build the St. Louis community by developing motivated, well-trained, and talented youth for the workforce. Since 1992, 98% of 4,000 SLIP interns have successfully acquired employability skills, graduated high school, and pursued their career goals. According to BGCSTL President, Dr. Flint Fowler, “The program aligns with the vision of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis (BGCSTL) to ensure that teens who come to the Club, develop the capacities they need to succeed, with a plan for their futures.”

“This unique affiliation represents an exciting opportunity to combine and leverage the internship, workforce development and other resources of SLIP and BGCSTL and make them available to a larger number of high school students in the St. Louis area. We believe this affiliation will be beneficial to students and employers as well as contribute significantly to the betterment of the greater St. Louis community,” says SLIP board chair, Kelvin Westbrook.

Shanise Johnson will remain the Director of the SLIP program and says, “We are committed to positively impacting the lives of St. Louis youth. Through our year-round comprehensive workforce development program for high school students, we strive to nurture talent for our region. Through this affiliation, our goal is to continue our robust services and widen our reach in the St. Louis region. We will continue to offer job readiness training (soft skills), college credit, postsecondary planning, summer paid internships, and personal development activities, which ultimately, affects the social fabric of our community.”

BGCSTL Chair, Larry Parres, adds “We are taking a significant step forward toward helping many great St. Louis companies identify and prepare the talent they need to remain vibrant and competitive. Our members will get the chance to explore a variety of career options while pursuing education and training appropriate to their choice. Perhaps it will become a national model for all Boys & Girls Clubs!”

Emerson is one of the corporate partners who welcome SLIP teens to their campus through the program. Employee Nina Hill said about one of the teens she worked with, “It is with great pleasure that I compliment you on your recent selection for the Legal Department’s SLIP candidate, Katelyn Dougherty. In her assignment for me, she was very efficient, diligent and thorough. She maintained a professional attitude, she asked questions and followed up when appropriate and sought additional assignments before I could approach her with new tasks. This was very helpful for me to get through a lot of Emerson’s Trademark Registration Portfolio!”

To be a part of the program, teens simply need to be a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis and can do so by calling 314-335-8000 or clicking here.