Boys & Girls Club of Muncie partners with Muncie Community Schools

A new partnership between Muncie Community Schools and the Boys & Girls Club of Muncie shifts programming for K-5 and middle school kids to the East Washington Academy and Southside Middle School, taking critical before-school supervision and after-school, high-impact programming where it’s needed most.

“For the Boys & Girls Club of Muncie, this is a strategic decision to reach more kids in more places throughout the city,” said Board President James Mitchell. “It’s a partnership that expands Club programming and gives more children access to nationally-known programs that focus on the organization’s pillars – academic success, good character and citizenship and healthy lifestyles.”

High school teen-agers will see expanded programming at the Boys & Girls Club of Muncie location on South Madison Street, which will soon undergo renovations to its gymnasium and STEM room.

“Before-school care has become a growing need in Muncie schools,” Mitchell said.  “This kind of partnership means we’ll have Boys & Girls Club trained personnel in schools, mentoring students, giving homework help and using known Club teaching tools and techniques.”

In its strategic plan, the Boys & Girls Club of Muncie conservatively forecast that the Muncie Club could be serving 3,500 kids throughout the year in multiple locations by 2020. “We see the need growing not just in our Club neighborhood but across Delaware County, and we’re actively pursuing partnerships that help address these needs,” Mitchell said.

For years, the Boys & Girls Club of Muncie has been an active community partner, collaborating with entities across the city. It is one of five nonprofits that participates each year in the ICE league, Muncie’s first Inter City Educational youth basketball tourney, administered by Project Leadership. Now in its third year, the ICE league is a collaborative enterprise with after-school focused non-profits and the Ball Brothers Foundation to teach that academic standards matter and are rewarded on and off the court.

Similarly, three years ago, the Boys & Girls Club of Muncie, along with others, moved its summer programming to AIM, Muncie’s premier summer youth enrichment program, held now at Southside Middle School. AIM is a collaboration among the Boys & Girls Club of Muncie, the Buley Community Center, Motivate Our Minds and the Ross Community Center alongside the Muncie YMCA. It focuses on providing children in kindergarten through 5th grade the emphasis they need over the critical summer months to retain what they’ve learned during the school year and to be ready for the next grade level.

“These are collaborative enterprises that broaden community awareness of the needs that so many in our community face,” Mitchell said. “The partnership with Muncie Community Schools will do the same thing.”

To contribute to the on-going improvement of the lives of youth in our community, please visit www.bgcmuncie.org/donate or our Amazon wishlist.

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