President’s Update, August 2011

Jake Gyllenhaal, Alice Waters, and the Today Show visit The Willie Mays Clubhouse at Hunters Point

On August 23rd, The Today Show (NBC) produced a story on the Edible Schoolyard at Hunters Point with Alice Waters, Jenna Bush  and actor Jake Gyllenhaal (a national ambassador of the Edible Schoolyard program). The Chez Panisse Foundation, the founder of the Edible Schoolyard initiative, is celebrating its 40th year. BGCSF’s garden program was the fourth Edible Schoolyard site in the country, and was the first after school program chosen. The Edible Schoolyard at Hunters Point started in 2008. The Edible Schoolyard at Hunters Point exposes youth to gardening and cooking while increasing access to fresh produce. Bayview/Hunters Point has little access to fresh produce, which makes exposure to nourishing fruit and vegetables important to neighborhood youth in this community. The story is focused on the importance of instilling healthy habits in youth. Click here to watch the Today Show clip, or here to see photos of Jake Gyllenhaal, Alice Waters, and Club youth in the garden!

Treasure Island Goes Biking

Treasure Island is an isolated community in every way. Encouraging healthy lifestyles to our youth is very important to BGCSF – in fact it’s one of our four key objectives for getting kids “ready for life”. Thanks to some hard work by Board Member Don Shaver, this summer, we were fortunate enough to have bikes donated to the Club!   On Treasure Island there is not a single grocery story, making healthy living a challenge. Biking provides our youth with an opportunity to engage in extremely healthy exercise, which benefits not only the body but also the mind. The bicycles were donated by a partner in the community, LBA Realty, who regularly provides volunteers and other support for the Treasure Island Clubhouse. Our partners in the community support youth at our nine Clubhouses and Camp Mendocino through different ways, helping youth develop healthy lifestyles, achieve academic success, engage in the community and develop good character, and improve skills that relate to career planning. Whether it’s financial support, volunteering, or providing in-kind support – thank you!

Back to School

San Francisco youth are returning to school after a full summer of reading & math programs, sports, field trips, teen workplace exposure events and so much more thanks to Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco!  Now, the kids are back in school and their academic success is BGCSF’s number one priority! In addition to BGCSF’s standard homework assistance (Power Hour); reading literacy enrichment programs (KidzLit) and academic programs geared towards middle schoolers (Achievement Matters), this year, BGCSF is offering additional one-on-one tutoring at all nine Clubhouses – something that many of our youth need!   Thanks to Google, we’re also upgrading our math enrichment program from Kidz Math to Khan Academy (a computer based, visual math program) to help our kids learn math skills at their own pace.  And thanks to a newly formed partnership with SEO Scholars, we will be providing more intensive college prep-support to our youth outside of what they’re getting at school (60 extra days of academic support)! We’re looking forward to helping over 1,300 San Franciscan youth each day achieve great academic success this year!

Great Futures Start Here

At the beginning of ninth grade, Troy was living in a shelter and struggling in school. But thanks to the support he found at the Tenderloin Clubhouse, he stayed in school, received tutoring and developed leadership skills despite a very unstable living situation. Troy helped start the Safe Walk program in 2008, where teens escort younger members home, and he volunteers at several community organizations to make the neighborhood a cleaner, safer, and better place. Troy graduated this spring with a much improved GPA, and has started his first semester at Berkeley City College this fall. Congratulations Troy!