How do we engage youth in the conservation conversation?
Four Ways To Help Youth Become Environmental Advocates
Five Key Ingredients to an Impactful Music Program
Make a positive impact on youth through music programming with these five key components.
3 Tips for Designing Your Summer Arts Experiences
Want to plan rich, engaging arts experiences that will build skills while integrating youth voice? We've got you!
5 Ways to Help Youth and Teens Participate in National Volunteer Week
National Volunteer Week is the third week of April! Get ideas from our friends at DoSomething.org in this new post.
8 Ideas for Civic Learning Week
Civic education is more important than ever. Get eight ideas for youth of all ages just in time for Civic Learning Week!
Four Resources to Set Your Club Up For Success in 2023
Level up in 2023 with these four game-changing resources from BGCA.
The Spring Semester Guide to Helping Youth Prepare for College
Learn what high schoolers should be doing in the Winter and Spring to support their college goals.
Keeping Art Inclusive and Responsive
Integrating arts with positive self-identity, youth voice, social justice, and wellness makes for powerful creative expression.
Exploring Creativity Through Arts Programming
The arts give youth new and unique ways of expressing. Learn about NEW resources and activities across art mediums in this new post.
Get Youth Writing With the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program
November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month! Learn about free resources for young writers you can use afterschool.
Talking Voting Rights With Teens
Get tips for helping teens understand the importance of using their vote and how they can get involved in the democratic process.
Fall Checklists for College-Bound Teens
Learn what high schoolers should be doing in the Fall to support their college goals, from their Freshman to Senior year.
The Magic Recipe for High-Quality Arts Programs
Learn the ingredients for a high-quality afterschool arts program from Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay.
Get Programming On-Demand With BGCA’s National Virtual Club!
BGCA's NEW National Virtual Club puts the best high-yield activities from Club staff across the country on your tv or device.
Incorporating Workforce Readiness Into Summer Programming
Get youth of all ages making career connections this summer with these three great ideas.
What is Quality? A Youth Perspective
Hear teens share what high-quality programming afterschool means to them, featuring our friends at VOX ATL
Adulting Day: Life Hacks for “Almost” Grownups
Learn more about Adulting Day, the Boys & Girls Club of Vernon's powerhouse annual event for 12th graders
Bringing Club Voice to Congress
Hear stories from BGCA's 2022 National Days of Advocacy plus get leadership and service resources you can use with youth
Exploring Career Opportunities Through Self-Discovery
Four ideas for helping youth follow their passions and explore career opportunities for National Careers Week
4 Resources to Set Your Club Up For Success in 2022
Four of BGCA's best resources to help your Club or Youth Center programming staff to be successful in 2022.
Making Financial Literacy FUN With Money Matters
Hear Boys & Girls Clubs of Milwaukee staff Nancy K.'s top four tips for running Money Matters with teens in this new ClubX Blog post.
Creatively Using Tech to Solve Real-World Problems With Youth
See youth-designed apps that could solve big problems, and learn more about how technology can be used for good.
6 Things That Should Be In Your Club’s Onboarding Experience
Learn the six components necessary to make a YDPs first 90 days a success plus learn about the all new Youth Development Professional Onboarding Guide from BGCA.
6 Tips for Creating a Culture of Workforce Readiness
Six ways to incorporate Workforce Readiness programming and principles throughout your afterschool program.
NYOI 2021: The Club Experience During a Pandemic
Every year, we survey youth to learn about their Club Experience. Find out what we heard in 2021 and what questions it might raise for your Club in this new ClubX Blog post.
How a Little Free Library Can Promote Literacy
Read how one Club is putting books in their community's hands and how you can start a Little Free Library through your afterschool program.
Four New Stats That Should Make Us Think
Four new stats from the 2021 KIDS COUNT Data Book that can inform our work in out-of-school time, plus tools for putting that data into action.
Five Issues Teens Care About in 2021
Five topics that today's teens told us they care about and why, plus how afterschool can cultivate youth voice.
Juneteenth: Ideas for Celebrating Black Liberation, Culture, Connection, and Joy!
As Juneteenth is becoming more widely known, get ideas for learning more and sparking creativity with youth.
How Can I Be An Advocate For Youth?
Four ways you can get involved in BGCA's national efforts and be a strong advocate for youth.
“The Hill We Climb”: Youth Voice Shining Bright
Video and text of the poem performed by the National Youth Poet Laureate at the Presidential Inauguration
4 Resources to Set Your Club Up for Success in 2021
Four of BGCA's best resources to help your Club or Youth Center programming staff to be successful in 2021.
Helpful Tips for Learning Support Centers
BGCA’s Director of Academic Success Lesa Sexton has TONS of great tips from your colleagues on Learning Support Centers! So your Club or Youth Center is now a Learning Support Center and you feel like your job description just went from “Site Director” to "Principal"? Not exactly sure how to navigate this new environment and set of responsibilities? https://giphy.com/gifs/shocked-what-stunned-doJrCO8kCAgNy It sure... Continue Reading →
5 Ways to Bring Workforce Readiness Online
Today we are joined by Kate Buechner, member of the Workforce Development team here at BGCA, to learn more about how career programming doesn't have to stop even if we can't be physically together. In youth development, we talk a lot about meeting youth where they are. So, what do we do when where they are isn’t at... Continue Reading →
Halloween 2020
Halloween is one of the best times of years to be in afterschool. When this whole pandemic began, I don’t think many of us expected we would still be dealing with it after this long. But? Here we are. And? WE REFUSE TO LET IT STEAL THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN! https://giphy.com/gifs/halloween-psychedelic-spooky-mBH9e8yz4oNIIq6X3D It is unfortunately true... Continue Reading →
It’s Election Season! Ideas for Teens, Youth, and More
The 2020 Election is inescapable, which means that it is also looming large in the lives of youth. Elections are a great opportunity to introduce young people to one of the most important and powerful rights we have as Americans, the right to vote. https://giphy.com/gifs/GoVote-vota-go-vote-l0MYP0xoNtuPTilhe It can be hard to navigate these discussions when the... Continue Reading →
Three Steps to Becoming a Youth Advocate
We are SO EXCITED for the 2020 National Virtual Keystone Conference! To get us motivated BGCA's Senior Director of Programs Val Killebrew is here to give us guidance on how to help youth take action about what they are passionate about. Youth of America are purpose driven and motivated to act on causes they believe... Continue Reading →
Why Teen Voice Matters
Tiffany Thornton, BGCA's Senior Director of Youth Development Services, brings a powerful story of lifting teen voice today. Our nation has been surrounded by images of protests, calls for change and an increased awareness of the prevalence of bias, injustice and systematic racism. The teens at the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis in Oregon... Continue Reading →
Teens Take the Lead on Safe Driving
At Boys & Girls Clubs of America, we offer many Targeted Programs to support our three Priority Outcome Areas of Academic Success, Good Character and Citizenship, and Healthy Lifestyles. Programs like Summer Brain Gain, Keystone, and Triple Play. One of my personal favorites? UPS Road Code! If you aren't familiar, UPS Rode Code is BGCA's... Continue Reading →
Developing Out of This World Problem Solvers
BGCA's Lesa Sexton is back and with these space themed activities she is shining a light on the total eclipse that is my heart. <3 It’s my firm belief that astronauts are about as superhuman as they come. I mean, you’d have to be superhuman to get through a rigorous application process in which you’re... Continue Reading →
Computer Science Education Week
Computer Science Education Week is December 9-15, 2019! Read on for three great ways to integrate it into your Club's programming from BGCA's Lesa Sexton. For better or for worse, computers have become an embedded part of our daily lives. They help us with everything from waking up on time and avoiding traffic to finding... Continue Reading →
5 Ways to Celebrate International Day of the Girl
BGCA's Youth Development Health & Wellness team are back on the ClubX Blog to join the world in celebrating girls! We know girls are amazing. And the United Nations (UN) thinks so, too. In 2011, the UN declared Oct. 11th the International Day of the Girl Child to recognize girl’s rights and the unique challenges... Continue Reading →
Club Story: Responding to a Community Need in Michigan
One of the greatest strengths of Boys & Girls Clubs are how embedded we are in local communities. This is why we were so excited to hear about the Summer Migrant Program at Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Holland! It is a wonderful example of a Club organization 1) identifying a local community need, 2) figuring out... Continue Reading →
Spooky Scary Halloween Ideas
It's September, which means IT'S TIME TO START PLANNING FOR HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Halloween is the best holiday to celebrate with young people. You can go all out and be silly and ridiculous and it is just accepted. I love it! To put together this post, I asked the foremost experts on fun- Boys & Girls Club... Continue Reading →
5 Ways to Celebrate National Arts in Education Week
Next week is Arts in Education Week! It's time to CELEBRATE! National Arts in Education Week is an opportunity to celebrate and advocate for the Arts and to share the impact of Arts Education with our communities. During this week, the field of arts education joins together in communities across the country to tell the story... Continue Reading →
What Are High-Yield Activities?
Have you started using Program Basics? We'll be highlighting some of the best content from the suite here on the ClubX Blog. Visit BGCA.net/Programbasics to learn more about all the great resources! Boys & Girls Clubs do a LOT of things. If you made a list, it would go on and on and on and... Continue Reading →
Club Story: Girls Who Code
Recently, through the BGCA Education Learning Community, we were introduced to Kelley Smith, Program Director at the Boys and Girls Club of Fauquier in Warrenton, Virginia. We were immediately struck by her enthusiasm for coding! We were curious to learn about how she’s been able to successfully establish a coding program at her Club (especially… Continue Reading →
No Passport? No Problem! It’s Summer Reading!
Our very own resident librarian and newest member of the Youth Trends team, Shannon Lake, is here to deliver the BEST tips to encourage summer reading including a free download from the BGCA's Power Hour Resource Guide! Summer is almost here and it’s time for you and your members to take a trip! No passport,... Continue Reading →
Introducing the BGCA 2019 National Youth Talent Performers!
Next week is BGCA's 113th National Conference! Club staff from across the world (shout-out to Youth Centers on military installations!) will be gathering together to celebrate our accomplishments, learn all about the newest initiatives, and network with one another. One of the absolute best parts of National Conference are the INCREDIBLE youth performers that wow... Continue Reading →
Building Strong Women: Interviews with SMART Girls Advisors
Do you want to connect with other Smart Girls Advisors? Interested in becoming a Smart Girls Advisor? Find out how at the end of this post! As Women’s History Month comes to an end, we’re thinking about all the ways Club staff empower young girls to become strong women in the future. SMART Girls is... Continue Reading →
