About Us
Our Mission
To inspire and enable all young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.
Quick Facts
Part of the community since 1891, Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco (BGCSF) currently serves more than 1,400 youth (ages six-18) per day. We have more than 6,300 active members and serve more than 17,000 youth per year at 11 program sites—including eight Clubhouses located in the neighborhoods with the fewest resources, two school-based sites and Camp Mendocino – a 2,000-acre residential summer camp that provides a creative and fun outdoor experience for youth. We are open “when kids need us most” – after school, on most school holidays and during the summer. We offer safe places where young people can learn, grow, and succeed.
Programs We Offer
We offer access to daily homework help, professional tutoring, support for college acceptance, and college scholarships; health and fitness, healthy eating and mental health services; free swim, learn-to-swim, and competitive swimming; nationally-recognized visual arts programs; community service opportunities; a traveling basketball program; character and leadership development programs; and much more. Over the past seven years, BGCSF has won eight National Program Excellence awards from Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
Where We Are
We operate eight Clubhouses, two school-based sites, and Camp Mendocino, a residential summer camp in Mendocino County.
Our Clubhouses: Columbia Park (serving the Western Mission), Mission (serving the eastern Mission), Ernest Ingold (serving the Western Addition, Lower Haight and Hayes Valley), Willie Mays Clubhouse at Hunters Point, Excelsior, Sunnydale, Tenderloin, and Visitacion Valley.
School-based sites: KIPP San Francisco College Preparatory in Potrero Hill and San Francisco Community School, a K-8 school in the Excelsior neighborhood.
Camp Mendocino: Located in Mendocino County (three hours north of San Francisco). provides over 1,500 youth (1,582) with a full outdoor camping experience, with 1,087 youth participating in the six traditional summer sessions.
Our Success Equation
Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco provides high quality programs and support services that allow our members to leave us at age 18 “ready for life”. Our goal is to positively impact the lives of Club members by focusing on these four essential outcomes:
- Academic Success
- Healthy Lifestyles
- Good Character and Community Engagement
- Job Readiness with Earning Potential
Youth Development Approach
Our Clubhouses, staff, and programs come together to create stability, consistency, and a sense of physical and emotional safety for our members. Our youth development professionals serve each day as positive role models who provide ongoing caring relationships with our youth. They work to develop moral character and instill a sense of belonging, competence, usefulness, and influence. Staff members make the Club feel like home, fostering a family atmosphere and creating a sense of ownership for members.
Our Green Initiative
Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco is a youth organization that models environmental sustainability for our young people and their families and the communities we work in. In order to achieve sustainability, BGCSF has created a “Green Initiative” with three main areas of focus: conserve, explore and recycle — that ensures our environmental objectives are supported and reflected in the work we do every day.
Conserve: we seek to conserve resources to be a good global citizen and to effectively manage expenses.
Recycle: we reduce the amount of waste generated in our facilities by using less new materials, optimizing the recovery of materials for re-use and recycling, as well as composting waste.
Explore: we believe that exploring nature is a critical component of environmental sustainability. We give our members opportunities to experience and appreciate the great outdoors, and hope they develop habits for a lifetime.
