Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley helps distance learning SEASON FOR SHARING
During the pandemic, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley has been Arizona’s largest provider of child care and served an average of more than 1,000 youth a day, according to Emily Denes of the nonprofit.
In March, Gov. Doug Ducey’s office and the state Department of Education coordinated with Boys & Girls Clubs Arizona Alliance, as well as other groups,
to provide child care options for families in need, especially for health care providers and first responders.
The nonprofit provided services to the community in response to the economic and digital divide exacerbated by COVID-19.
“Most of our families do not have access to the internet at home, beyond their phones. Many of our teen members have been doing their homework on cellphones when the club is closed,” said Denes, the nonprofit’s manager of foundations and grants.
To help students with online learning, the nonprofit early on found a way to open its 27 Boys & Girls Club locations throughout the Phoenix area for distance learning and after-school programs.
The nonprofit has been able to help several families who were financially affected by the pandemic, including Carmen, a proud mother of four and a registered nurse at a Phoenix hospital.
Denes shared some of her story: Carmen enrolled her kids, ages 6, 8, 11 and 13, at the Ed Robson Family Branch when the children’s schools were closed and her work increased at the hospital.
Due to the size of her family, Carmen struggled to find child care. With the club, her children enrolled in multiple programs, including robotics, extended learning, youth indoor soccer, and passport to manhood, a program that’s part of the character and leadership development program for youth ages 8 to 14, Denes said.
“The oldest, Alexander, is a phenomenal student and provides his mother sibling-behavior reports each day,” Denes said.
“We are proud to have this family at the Ed Robson Family Branch.”
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley is one of more than 100 Arizona nonprofits supported by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com’s annual holiday giving campaign, Season for Sharing.
Last year, Season for Sharing gave its highest award amount, $50,000, to Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley.
Emily Denes
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley
Clubs turned into distance-learning sites
To alleviate the financial and digital barriers local families faced, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley worked quickly to comply with public health mandates to operate clubs so it could help kids and families throughout the Valley.
For example, the nonprofit reconfigured clubs during the summer and fall into distance-learning sites for students.
“We added in Wi-Fi and hot spots, and we moved tables and workspaces into safely distanced pods where students could log on to their computer in small groups to limit exposure to others,” Denes said.
In addition to providing students space to complete their work and access resources, the nonprofit is working with local schools to connect members to their distance-learning programs.
In conjunction with the Arizona Science Center, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley piloted a two-way distancelearning program for students ages 7 to 10 that allows students to interact with teachers and receive one-on-one assistance.
“Based on the participants’ positive feedback, we are currently looking at
“We added in Wi-Fi and hot spots, and we moved tables and workspaces into safely distanced pods.” how to expand this program for next summer and to more clubs. We will also be working with Engineers of the Future on a two-way distance-learning program for tweens,” Denes said.
The nonprofit also partnered with the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University to create a oneway distance-learning program that aligns with Arizona state standards. This ensures youth have access to virtual learning services and lectures that are compliant with state education standards.
Through an additional partnership with Vista College Preparatory, clubs provided curriculum in English and Spanish and allowed students access to modules and work packets through a one-way distance-learning program.
‘A stable force in their lives’
Additionally, several families lost their jobs due to COVID-19 and could not afford member fees, which the nonprofit was able to cover with the help of community funding.
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley also learned that families have struggled with food insecurity during the pandemic.
In place of schools, which often provide students with breakfast and lunch, the nonprofit was able to offer members snacks and hot dinners with financial support from community donors and Season for Sharing, Denes said.
“Our club members rely on our club’s programs as a stable force in their lives. We foster equity and economic mobility by creating academic, social and workforce opportunities for our youth, and allowing parents to work while their children are safe in our care,” Denes said.