Grant to help to Engage Teens at the Club

Oceanside CA— Boys & Girls Clubs of Oceanside (BGCO) received $16,000 from Toyota Financial Services to increase teen engagement.
BGCO recognizes the needs of teens and their desire to be treated differently than younger Club members. Teen-focused field trips like Geek Squad Academy develop interests in technology and provide a skillset to explore new horizons. During camp programming, the Club offers a ‘Counselors-In-Training’ option for older members to give them more adult responsibilities, like helping staff run programs or stepping in as referee for outdoor sport events.
BGCO has a full-time Teen Director who recruits teens from local high schools and middle schools to become Club members. BGCO looks forward to hosting exciting weekend programming and ‘teen after hours’ like movie nights, soccer tournaments, study sessions and more.

BGCO is currently under construction as we build our Center for Innovation, a 2,000 square-foot addition which will include a Culinary Arts Teaching Kitchen, a Performing Arts Center, and a STREAM (Science, Technology, Research, Engineering, Arts, Math) Lab. This center will provide high quality, hands-on experiences for teens, no matter their interests.
The Teen Impact Grant will fund programming such as Keystone Club, Money Matters, and Career Launch, which empowers teens with responsibility and tools to prepare for interviews, money and time management, and teamwork.
Funds will also be used to host our Third Annual Graduation Celebration in May to rejoice in our teens’ accomplishment of graduating from high school. Recent alumni have gone on to work at BGCO Summer Camp before their first year of college or trade school. BGCO works to connect grads with other Boys & Girls Clubs of America alumni around the country and provides networking resources to help them excel wherever their futures take them.
For more information about the Boys & Girls Clubs of Oceanside please contact Hannah Moss at HMoss@BGCOceanside.org, call (760) 433-8920, and visit our website BGCOceanside.org or Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/BGCOside .