Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox organization Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) is a United States–based nonprofit organization that operates a nationwide network of more than 5,500 local Boys & Girls Clubs. The organization serves children and youth by providing safe spaces, caring adult mentors, meals and snacks, and youth development programs that support academic success, leadership skills, and health and wellness. BGCA holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code, is headquartered in Atlanta, and operates regional offices across the United States. Boys & Girls Clubs of America reaches more than 4 million kids and teens each year through its Club programs across the United States, Native lands, and U.S. military installations.^[1]

History

The origins of Boys & Girls Clubs of America trace back to 1860, when the first Boys' Club was founded in Hartford, Connecticut, by three women, Elizabeth Hamersley and sisters Mary and Alice Goodwin.^[2] In 1906, 53 independent Boys' Clubs came together in Boston to form a national organization, the Federated Boys' Clubs. In 1931, the organization renamed itself Boys' Clubs of America, and in 1990, to Boys & Girls Clubs of America. As of 2010, there are over 4,000 autonomous local clubs, which are affiliates of the national organization. In total these clubs serve more than four million boys and girls. Clubs can be found in all 50 states as well as locations in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa and US military bases. In total, Boys & Girls Clubs of America employ about 50,000 staff members.^[3]

Boys Club of New York, Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, New York

Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg, West Virginia

The Chronicle of Philanthropy ranked Boys & Girls Clubs of America number one among youth organizations for the 13th consecutive year, and number 12 among all nonprofit organizations. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America is the official charity of Major League Baseball.^[4]

Denzel Washington, a former club member, has been the spokesperson for Boys & Girls Clubs of America for over 25 years, since 1993.^[5] and in 2006, for the organization's 100 anniversary, helped put together with Daniel Paisner, a book that underscores the lesson: “If you want to change the world, start by changing the life of a child”. "A hand to guide me" features examples from leaders as they tell their life-changing stories of mentorship, when as youngsters they were guided by a caring adult, which shaped the rest of their life, including over 70 of America's leading personalities in theatre, sports, business, and politics such as Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Whoopi Goldberg, Muhammad Ali, Yogi Berra, Toni Morrison, Cal Ripken Jr. and Colin Powell.^[6]

Lists of founders

Boys Clubs of America, 1940

These people came together in 1940 to create the Boys Clubs of America:^[7]

Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States
William E. Hall, US Medal of Honor recipient
Albert L. Cole, CEO of Reader's Digest
James A. Farley, United States Postmaster General
Albert C. Wedemeyer US Army Chief of Plans and Operations
Matthew Woll, vice president of the AFL-CIO
Jeremiah Milbank, two-time Republican Party Finance Committee chairman
Stanley Resor, Secretary of the Army
James B. Carey, president of AFL-CIO
J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Lewis L. Strauss, chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
Robert E. Wood, quartermaster general of the army, vice-president of Sears
Fred C. Church Jr., insurance businessman
H. Bruce Palmer, president of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company
Edgar A. Guest, TV and radio host
Nicholas H. Noyes, Indianapolis, Indiana; oil mogul
George A. Scott, president, Walker-Scott Company
E. E. Fogelson, Army colonel and cattle and oil baron
Ernest Ingold of San Francisco, California
Jesse Draper of Atlanta, Georgia
Julius J. Epstein
John Albert