The Boys & Girls Club recently reinstated its basketball league and hopes the soccer league will soon follow. Sports teams compete within the club, as well as with neighboring clubs. Photo courtesy of Boys & Girls Club of Long Beach.

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The Boys & Girls Club of Long Beach is meeting the increased needs of students across Long Beach by engaging them in academic support and recreation.

Students ages 6 to 18 attend the Long Beach center, which is one of 4,700 locations across the country. However, every club is able to function independently, allowing each to evaluate the needs of its individual community.

At Boys & Girls Club, 90% of participants are lower-income, and the organization provides workshops and education focused on breaking the cycle of poverty.

While afternoons at the center always involve academic support and homework help, recreation and exposure to new activities is also emphasized to its participants.

Providing well-rounded support is central to the club’s mission, and kids participate in a new program each day, varying from sports, literacy clubs, or art projects.

“Sometimes you need a little spark to get inside of you to show interest in something,” said events and development associate Erika Parrish. “If you’re not exposed to it, you’re never going to know, so we like to include them and gently guide them into everything that we’re doing.”

The Boys & Girls Club offers various education and career programs for each age group, through tutoring, mentoring, and helping students achieve their potential. Photo courtesy of Boys & Girls Club of Long Beach. Photo courtesy of Boys & Girls Club of Long Beach.

This month the club’s basketball league is back up and running after a hiatus, and Parrish hopes the soccer league will soon follow.

“The more kids can find something positive to be engaged in, that is where their mentality will focus all the time,” said Parrish. “We want to show them everything that they can be capable of.”

Whether their futures lead to community college, a trade school, a four-year institution, or something else, kids at Boys & Girls Club are shown all the possibilities that are available to them, she said.

Students are able to speak with and seek mentorship from people in all type of fields, varying from mechanics and automobiles, to medical and law, all who demonstrate a clear path towards a career, Parrish said.

“When you feel like you’re stuck in a place and don’t have anywhere to go is where the trouble sets in,” said Parrish. “They just need a helping hand to show them what’s possible.”

While admittance to the club is only $15 for the entire school year (with a highly discounted summer program available as well), funds can be a challenge for the organization, said Parrish, especially considering the rising costs as of late.

“We have the programs in place,” said Parrish. “In order to keep expanding them and allowing more children to come in, we just need the funds in place to sustain them at $15 per member for a full school year with our doors open.”

During the pandemic, Boys & Girls Club was one of the few nonprofits to keep its doors entirely open, while extending its services to children of first responders.

“Nothing’s worse than worrying about where your kid is or if they’re safe while you’re trying to take care of others,” said Parrish.

In addition, the club worked to recognize and address the mental health struggles facing many youth since the pandemic, she said.

As a response to the rising need, the club increased its recreation time and activities as well as its virtual mentoring services, insuring connection with anyone who didn’t feel comfortable coming in-person or couldn’t due to transportation issues.

“Now what we’re finding is things are getting stable, but our kids are still having a harder time just kind of coping with it all,” said Parrish.

The club has also worked to combat the academic gap due to the pandemic, mostly impacting students’ math and reading skills, said Parrish.

“We’re always putting our kids first and foremost, and every generation has different needs and different wants, and we try to always be on the cutting edge of that so we can help support them,” said Parrish.

Tutors try to make learning fun at the center, incorporating movement and other active components to illustrate math concepts, always with the goal of keeping kids engaged.

The club generally connects to students through Long Beach Unified schools, although calls from social workers are also relatively common, as is word of mouth.

“Our kids have so much fun that they try to bring their friends over,” said Parrish.

Students are allowed to attend as often as they want and for as long as they want, although the goal is to keep them at the center from 2 to 6 p.m., said Parrish, as that is most likely to keep them out of trouble.

“We have a location over by Cabrillo that has experienced some gang violence recently that’s escalating,” said Parrish. “Keeping these kids in the club is the safest place for them to be, so we have to make it super fun.”

On April 6, community members are invited to celebrate the club’s most accomplished high schoolers at the annual Youth of the Year event, which awards each finalist with scholarships. The winning candidate moves on to regional, state, and national events, with the opportunity to continue winning more scholarships.

“We’ve had candidates who have risen up from homelessness, assault, the foster care system, abuse . . .  and through our programming and just because of the wonderful people that they are, are coming into their own,” said Parrish. “We would love to share that with the community and have them there to see the wonderful work that we do but see these amazing people who benefit from the help that they’ve been given.”

The Youth of the Year event is on April 6, at 6 p.m. at Hotel Maya. View more information here.

Donate to Boys & Girls Club of Long Beach here.

Learn about the club’s volunteer opportunities here.