The 7575 youth served by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis have been joined by 1281 youth served by the Boys & Girls Club of Bethalto as the smaller Metro East organization merged with the larger agency in St. Louis.
The clubs will now serve youth across the region at nine locations: Adams Park Club, Boys & Girls Club of Bethalto, Boys & Girls Club of Lovejoy, 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. They also operate dropout prevention programs within two High Schools (Normandy and Roosevelt High School); as well as Mentor St. Louis and St. Louis Internship Program.
Club youth participate in afterschool, teen, and summer camp programming geared towards academic success; healthy lifestyles; and good character and citizenship development. The combined organization is now one of the region’s largest youth development agencies.
The merger will be accomplished over a period of time. An integration committee has been named, and over the next year the details of operating a single entity will be finalized. In the short term, operations will continue as they have previously. Members of all organizations will continue to attend their home Clubs.
In the long term, according to a release, operations will likely not change significantly but new programs will be added and new measurements put into place in priority areas that include Academic Success, Good Character and Citizenship, and Healthy Lifestyles.
Both organizations are chartered by Boys & Girls Clubs of America. The national office provides a wide array of resources – from program best practices to professional development opportunities – to help local member organizations achieve these priority outcomes.
“Collectively these organizations have provided young people safe places, positive mentors and life-enhancing programs for nearly 105 years,” stated Jim Clark, president of Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
“By coming together, they will create an even stronger and more efficient organization, positioned to meet the needs of youth in their communities for decades to come. I look forward to seeing the organization grow its reach and increase its positive impact through expanded programming, especially in essential areas like workforce readiness.”
Flint Fowler, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis, will lead the expanded agency.
“We have a shared goal to provide the best possible services to our youth members and believe our collective efforts will produce powerful results for the greater St. Louis community,” Fowler said.
“This decision was made following months of exploration, benchmarking and analysis. The unanimous conclusion is to merge our organizations to create a more effective, efficient and results oriented enterprise for members as well as staff.”
Kathleen A. Wilson, executive director for Boys & Girls Club of Bethalto, said the merger will help her club increase its capacity to meet growing need in the community.
“This partnership/merger will increase our resources and allow us to provide more opportunities to current members, while increasing our ability to add youth from our waiting list and in the future, expand to surrounding areas of need,” Wilson said.