Get teens engaged and having a blast during their school break with these four ideas.
Four Ways to Make Your Teen Center the Ultimate Spring Break Destination
Ideas for Recruiting Teens Through Community Service
Learn how to use community service opportunities to recruit and engage teens and tweens with ideas from Clubs.
Five Issues Teens Care About in 2023
Teens have a lot on their minds, including these five topics chosen by the 2023 Keystone Conference Steering Committee.
Three Reasons to Incorporate Culminating Experiences Into Arts Programming
Giving youth opportunities to showcase their work has HUGE benefits beyond the event itself.
Four Ways To Help Youth Become Environmental Advocates
How do we engage youth in the conservation conversation?
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 Tips For Starting an Esports Program Afterschool
Get in the game with these tips for starting esports at your Club.
Keeping Art Inclusive and Responsive
Integrating arts with positive self-identity, youth voice, social justice, and wellness makes for powerful creative expression.
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.
How to Host a SMART Girls Expo
Get inspiration from this year's SMART Girls Expo to host your own event, with top tips from the organizers.
Five Ways to Combat the Online Radicalization of Youth
Learn the warning signs of online radicalization, who is at risk, and how to prevent it in this new ClubX Blog post.
Five Issues Teens Care About in 2022
Teens have a lot on their minds, including these five topics chosen by the 2022 Keystone Conference Steering Committee.
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.
Ideas to Get Kids and Teens Writing
Activities that will empower youth to be creative, express themselves, and have fun through writing
What is Quality? A Youth Perspective
Hear teens share what high-quality programming afterschool means to them, featuring our friends at VOX ATL
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
Inspire Change Town Hall: Justice For All
Learn more about events on MyFuture, including the recent town hall sponsored by the NFL
6 Tips for Creating a Culture of Workforce Readiness
Six ways to incorporate Workforce Readiness programming and principles throughout your afterschool program.
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.
Tips for Retaining Tweens
One strategy for increasing teen membership afterschool is to invest in tween members now. Learn about four areas to keep in mind as you develop a tween strategy in this new ClubX Blog post.
More Ideas for Celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, & Pacific Islander Month
May is Asian American & Pacific Islander Month! Use this list of activities and resources for building empathy to celebrate with youth.
Supporting Youth When Police Violence Is In the News
The high-profile violence against Black Americans during interactions with police continue to occur. Get resources to support the youth in your care, featuring the Passport to Manhood and NEW Smart Girls Growing Up Black Discussion Guides.
How to Get Your Teens Engaged in Programming
Learn more about how to get teens excited and engaged afterschool, with tips from six Teen Centers!
“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
Racial Trauma, Healing, and Youth Advocacy
The high-profile violence against Black Americans during interactions with police continue to occur. When it occurs in our local communities, youth may be directly impacted. Increasingly, the trauma has expanded across the country with social media and news coverage. Either way, part of our role as supportive youth development professionals is to help youth to... 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 →
Supporting Black LGBTQ+ Youth
The below article is revised from a resource on TheTrevorProject.org by Dr. Tia Dole, the organization's Chief Clinical Operations Officer.For 160 years, the mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of America has been to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. As we celebrate... Continue Reading →
7 Things to Consider About Teens and Virtual Club
This post is part of our special series on the Coronavirus outbreak. One of the most common questions being asked about virtual programming right now is “What do I do with teens?” And there isn’t a simple answer. Teen programming has always been opt-in for many of our members, but that is true now more than ever. As you make your program plans,... Continue Reading →
Club Story: Project Crane
At the 2019 Keystone Conference, we met the teens from the Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam Youth Center in Hawai'i, and learned about their Project Crane. To say we were moved is an understatement, and today I'm absolutely honored to bring you their story, written by the teens themselves. An origami paper crane flapped its... Continue Reading →
Introverts in Afterschool: 5 Tips For Helping Quiet Youth Thrive
When I think of the average Boys & Girls Club, my mind goes straight to the Gamesroom. Often the heart of the Clubhouse. Loud, chaotic, busy, and fun! The next thing my mind goes to? How 8 year old Sarah would have HATEDDDDDDD the Gamesroom. The reason? 8 year old me was (and 30-something year... Continue Reading →
Club Stories: Pride in Our Movement
June is here and it’s time to celebrate! In the United States, June became the month to celebrate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan. 2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the uprising that played a pivotal role in human rights progression within the United... 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 →
Registering Youth to Vote: A State-By-State Guide *UPDATED for 2020!
"To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens." In the United States, one of the best ways that we can be citizens is by exercising our right to vote. Unfortunately, younger adults, including Millennials and post-Millennials, are the least likely of all... Continue Reading →
Club Story: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Exit Polling
Today's guest post, and third in our series on Pulse Checks, is from Max Fenster from Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada, where Club staff have been piloting exit polls for a year. Read on to discover what they've learned! Nearly a year ago, we began using exit polling to get feedback from our... Continue Reading →
Club Story: Using Pulse Checks To Be Better in Springfield
Today's guest post is from Brandy Harris from Boys & Girls Clubs of Springfield, where they have been LOVING Pulse Checks. Read on to find out how they use them at their Club! Webster Dictionary (probably) defines pulse checks as this cool thing should be implemented at Clubs across the globe and that a bunch... Continue Reading →
Club Story: WAKANDA FOREVER! Taking Teens to See Black Panther
A couple of weeks ago, I asked around to find out what Clubs did to celebrate the release of Black Panther. The answer is A LOT! I am thrilled to share my conversation with Lauren Avey, Unit Director from the Boys & Girls Club of Washington County about how her Club integrated meaningful programming with... Continue Reading →
