Lodi Boys and Girls Club partners with Stanislaus program
After two years of discussions, the Lodi Boys and Girls Club has entered into a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Stanislaus County.
According to Lodi Boys and Girls Club Director Edwin Cotton, the partnership is an effort to align with the Boys and Girls Club of America’s 2025 strategic plan by collaborating with each other to build upon each organization’s current capacity and capabilities.
The partnership is a result of several meetings between the two organizations over the past couple of years, Cotton said. Through the course of the meetings, it became apparent that the Boys and Girls Clubs of Stanislaus County needed help with operations while the Lodi Boys and Girls Club needed help with resource development. Cotton said the Boys and Girls Club of Stanislaus County has a great marketing program and can help the Lodi Boys and Girls Club with resource development while the Lodi Boys and Girls Clubs is stronger on the operations and program planning side of things, so the partnership seemed like the perfect fit. He said the partnership will give both organizations access to personnel and expertise that they don’t currently have.
“It is our pleasure to form a partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Stanislaus County whereby we can leverage each other’s resources and expertise,” he said. “Each of our organizations have incredible teams working passionately to carry out a thorough and targeted plan for reaching as many young people as possible.”
The partnership is expected to increase the number of members served by both organizations while providing more efficient and cost effective management, reducing overhead and enabling more resources to be expended at the club site level.
Funds raised in their respective communities will be designated for local clubs.
“Because our communities face economic and educational challenges, our youth desperately need the services we provide,” Cotton said.
“A strategic partnership alleviates many obstacles with respect to growth and expansion. A partnership makes sense financially and strategically and will strengthen each of our club site’s capacity and capabilities with strong effective leadership.”
Cotton said this is the Lodi Boys and Girls Club’s first time partnering with another organization.
“It’s something that we feel moving forward in the future is going to work out for all the organizations that are involved in this partnership,” he said.
“It will also strengthen our organization to the point where other communities want to start a Boys and Girl Club. We know what that should look like and we can meet with that community and we could tell them exactly what it’s going to entail and what it’s going to take to secure a club site.”
At this point the Lodi Boys and Girls Club is not looking into any other partnerships, and is focused on its partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Stanislaus County
“This is just an exploratory partnership right now so we’re making sure we do everything right before we enter into partnerships with anyone else,” Cotton said.