What We Do
Our Clubs provide youth with regular access to planned structured programs, supportive relationships with adults, and positive peer connection. As a result, Club youth are able to leverage and create opportunities that shift the course of their life trajectories and overcome cycles of inequity.
Every young person deserves access to the transformative experiences and care that Clubs provide, empowering them to become the future leaders of our communities and our nation. BGCWCW provides a safe, constructive environment for youth when they are not at home or in school. We provide that safe haven for more than 910 youth across Sauk, Colombia & Monroe Counties every year.
While their children are actively engaged at the Club, families can rest assured knowing that they have access to:
Academic Success
- Inspiring a love of learning in and out of the classroom
- At BGCWCW one of our top priorities is ensuring all youth have the tools and support to be successful both in life and at school. Afterschool academic support helps kids stay on track throughout the school year, while fun and engaging summer programming combats summer learning loss in areas like math and reading.
- We offer Power Hour, Math Hoops, DIY STEM every day to ensure that hundreds of young people have the resources they need to succeed academically.
- Be Great Graduate: The Be Great: Graduate program helps teen Club members who are at-risk of dropping out of school and not graduating to develop the academic, behavioral, and social skills needed to be successful. The program pairs Club members with a Graduation Specialist who becomes a resource and mentor for youth. Areas of focus are:
- academics
- building life skills
- identifying what students already do well and building on it
- providing community resources to students and their families
- keeping students and their families connected with their school district
- providing fun opportunities through the Boys & Girls Club.
Safety & Belonging
We work every day to create a safe, fun environment so kids can have every opportunity to be successful in life. We have ZERO tolerance for inappropriate behavior of any kind, including child sexual abuse or misconduct, and we provide significant resources to ensure this priority is achieved.
America’s young people deserve nothing less than our constant focus on their safety and our firm commitment to protect every child who is entrusted to our care at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County. To learn more about our national safety policies and actions, please visit Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Child Safety page .
Mentorship
In a mentoring program at BGCWCW, young people find positive adult mentors in staff and volunteers who notice their strengths, listen to their concerns and open up doors of possibility. From connecting youth to a program that deepens their interests to sparking their curiosity in a future career field, inspiring mentors help kids and teens explore their full potential.
There are also plentiful benefits of mentors including
- helping prevent early drug use
- encouraging teens to be college- and career-ready
- promoting positive mental health outcomes.
Trauma Informed Practice
Trauma-Informed Practice is a strengths-based approach that prioritizes safety, trust, awareness, equity, voice, collaboration, connection, and growth to empower youth, families, and staff. With two-thirds of youth experiencing trauma by age 16, leading to adverse outcomes, trauma-informed care is vital in Boys & Girls Clubs to support emotional regulation, behavior, and learning. By fostering safe, trusting relationships and providing social-emotional activities, Clubs promote healing, resilience, and success. The Boys and Girls Clubs of West-Central Wisconsin is committed to a trauma-informed movement, ensuring young people feel valued and supported to become responsible, compassionate adults.
Life and Workforce Readiness
Clubs prepare youth of all ages with essential skills that today’s schools and employers want, including effective communication, social interaction and navigating challenges.
Research shows that that every $1 invested in Boys & Girls Clubs returns $9.60 in economic benefits to their respective communities. (2015, Institute for Social Research and the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan )
Supporting your local Boys and Girls Club generates future earnings and cost savings to YOUR community by helping to prevent costly expenditures for health care, public assistance programs, and criminal justice system involvement and incarceration.