PLATINUM2022

Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Lucie County, Inc.

Great Futures Start Here

aka Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Lucie County   |   Fort Pierce, FL   |  www.bgcofslc.org

Mission

The mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Lucie County is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.

Ruling year info

1994

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. William Armstead

Main address

3104 Avenue J

Fort Pierce, FL 34947 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

65-0505369

NTEE code info

Boys and Girls Clubs (Combined) (O23)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

The population of St. Lucie County is diverse, particularly in the under-resourced neighborhoods that we serve. For example, we have three Clubhouses in Lincoln Park, the poorest neighborhood in Fort Pierce, which is nearly 60% Black. Nearly half of the residents live in poverty. Many Club members come from generations of poverty, without access to the resources available to those who are not poor. These kids also are on the wrong side of the digital divide, with no home access to the Internet. Many suffer from the effects of multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences, the traumatic events which, untreated, can negatively affect the rest of their lives. As they look for jobs, they don’t have transportation to get to employment outside the neighborhood. As a result, they remain locked into those neighborhoods, in the same cycle of poverty that trapped their parents and grandparents.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

BGCA

BGCA clubs serve school-age youth through a variety of programs including homework assistance, technology centers, teen centers, career exploration, job assistance, sports and recreation, art classes and leadership development. In addition to program development, Boys & Girls Clubs of America provides programmatic and executive training for Club professionals nationwide.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth

Boys & Girls Clubs of St, Lucie County (BGCSLC) serves thousands of young people across the County. The Clubs offer daily access to a broad range of programs that promote health, social, educational, vocational, character, and leadership development. Club programs foster a sense of belonging, competence, usefulness and influence that builds self-confidence and self-esteem. The scope and depth of our programming addresses the community’s need of positive programs for these at risk youth. For example, SMART Moves teaches resistance skills when dealing with substance abuse, HIV/Aids, smoking and premature sexual activity. BGCSLC also operates specialized programs including truancy prevention.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth

Where we work

Awards

Best Places to Work 2020

St. Lucie County Human Resources Association

Affiliations & memberships

Boys Girls Clubs of America CEO of the Year 2020

Boys & girls Clubs of America program of the Year 2019

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of students receiving homework help

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adolescents, Children, Preteens

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

We attribute the significant decline in the number of students receiving homework help from 2019 to 2020 to the onset of the COVID pandemic. Numbers are recovering in the post-pandemic era.

Number of new grants received

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adolescents, Children, Preteens, American Indians

Type of Metric

Other - describing something else

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

The increase in new grants in 2020 can be attributed to organizations funding activities we were conducting to help residents affected by COVID.

Average grant amount

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adolescents, Children, Preteens

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of direct care staff who received training in trauma informed care

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adolescents, Infants and toddlers, Preteens

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

The smaller number in 2021 reflects training only for new staff. We expect to begin additional training for all staff later in 2022.

Number of children who have the ability to seek help from and respond appropriately to adults

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adolescents, Children, Preteens

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Results as measured by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America National Youth Opinion Inventory, an annual survey of members. Decline due to COVID.

Number of youth who demonstrate that they have developed knowledge about occupations

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adolescents, Children, Preteens

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Program reduced in 2019 because of COVID.

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

The mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Lucie County (BGCSLC) is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Our work began in 1994, when a small group of dedicated civic leaders recognized that children had no place to go after school, and created a Boys & Girls Club in Fort Pierce to help keep kids off the streets. Since then we have grown to our current configuration, providing after-school services to a registered membership of more than 4,000 young people in Grades K-12 at six neighborhood Clubhouses, before- and after-school programs at 15 School-Based Clubs, and summer camps at several sites.

We also provide specialized services, including our truancy reduction program and the county’s Summer Food Program, to thousands more young people annually. In all, we serve more than 17,000 annually.

To fulfill our goals, we work with dozens of community partners, including St. Lucie Public Schools, to assess the changing needs of the county’s youth and to develop programs that meet those needs. For example, several years ago, we and partner agencies operating in the area of workforce development recognized that the county faced a shortage of qualified workers to fill jobs.
As a result, we and CareerSource Research Coast developed our Summer Career and College Boot Camp. In this program, teens learned some of the “soft skills,” such as communication and teamwork, that employers tell us are often missing in the candidates they see, participants also learned how to write resumes and college and employment applications and earned money through paid internships and jobs. They also took part in programs designed to increase their emotional intelligence, leadership skills, and knowledge of personal finance.
Recognizing that more teens and pre-teens could benefit from an expanded workforce program, we replaced the Summer Boot Camps with “Into the Future,” a year-round workforce initiative that offers the same curriculum plus the opportunity to participate in additional job-training programs.
Among them are our Culinary Program, located in a commercial kitchen at our Westside Club. Teens learn food preparation, customer service and other job skills while earning money preparing daily meals for 400 members who attend our Clubhouses. Teens also have the opportunity to train and qualify for their ServSafe certificates, allowing them to get jobs at restaurants.
We also offer teens workforce readiness opportunities on our Learn & Earn Food Truck and Trailer, which sells food at festivals and other events throughout the county. Teens earn money while learning customer service, food preparation, marketing, and maintenance skills.

Our organizational strategies are grounded in our 2022-25 Strategic Plan, developed and adopted last year by our leadership and Board. The Strategic Plan is based on three pillars: World-Class Clubs; Life-Enhancing Programs and Character-Developing Experiences; and Workforce Readiness – Hope and Opportunity.
In the area of World-Class Clubs, our three top goals are to maintain safety as our top priority by enhancing safety equipment and procedures; reach new youth in underserved areas by expanding Club facilities; and increase partnerships with community agencies to create wrap-around services for the whole family and to build the capacity of other organizations.
We have three overall goals in the area of Life-Enhancing Programs and Character-Developing Experiences: To increase emotional wellness activities that teach our members how to be happy, resilient and self-confident by managing and expressing their emotions; to address the COVID Slide in youth education caused by disruption of the academic year; and to implement specialized programs that create unique experiences for youth.
Similarly, our Workforce Readiness pillar also contains three goals: to provide hundreds of local teens with paid internships and real-life work experiences; to engage community partners to provide work-based learning opportunities; and to curate job training and certification opportunities such as culinary certifications.
Our organization is assisted in implementing each of these pillars by a task force of at least 25 representatives of local business and organizations and led by a member of our Board.
We base the development and delivery of our short- and long-term programming on four factors. 1) qualitative observations of community youth; 2) quantitative data collected from Federal, State, local and non-profit organizations, as well as research studies; 3) input from community members and groups; and 4) identified generational challenges affecting youth in St. Lucie County.

The expected outcomes and benefits of our programming, as measured through quantitative and qualitative means, include 1) reduced gang activity; 2) reduced substance abuse; 3) on-target high school graduation; 4) acquisition of workforce skills; 5) employment and/or internships; and 6) improved mental wellness, self-awareness, and positive decision-making.

BGCOFSLC supports youth (in Grades K-12) through six neighborhood Clubhouses strategically located in neighborhoods with the greatest need, 15 school-based Clubs, a summer camp site and, and through a recently-launched Pop-Up Club, which brings Club services to unserved neighborhoods in Port St. Lucie. Through these facilities, we provide youth with safe places to learn and play. We also give them and their families access to wrap-around services provided by our partner agencies.

We deliver our programs through professionally trained staff, qualified teachers. Volunteers from the community enrich our programming, providing our members with instruction on everything from reading to golf. These programs constitute the heart of the promise for the future made to St. Lucie County youth. Through them, we enable our young people to learn powerful life skills and introduce them to new experiences, helping them reach their full potential as healthy, productive adults.

We offer diverse program activities that are based on the interests and needs of the disadvantaged youth we serve. Examples of programming include:
• SMART Moves, a Boys & Girls Clubs of America program, provides age-appropriate instruction in techniques to help members resist the lures of drugs, alcohol, tobacco and premature sexual activity.
• BEATS!, a program at our Fort Pierce Teen Center, offers teens the use of a music production studio. The program teaches musicianship and music production skills.
• Money Matters promotes fiscal responsibility and independence among Club members of all ages by building their money management skills.
• Programs based in principles of Social and Emotional Learning help participants recognize and control their emotions, form positive relationships, become more emotionally mature and make responsible decisions.
• Power Hour provides homework help, tutoring, and high-yield learning activities
• STEM-oriented lessons that offer youth activities to boost their achievement in math and science and help them consider STEM careers
• Summer Brain Gain, which consists of week-long modules focused on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) subjects aligned with standards
• iReady, the St. Lucie Public Schools’ Web-based learning tool. Through our close partnership with the School District, our members have access to iReady. They can use it in our Clubs to complete their homework and special assignments designed to help those who are behind catch up with their work.
• Workforce Readiness programs, such as Into the Future provide youth with real-world experience and soft skills as well as employment opportunities and paid internships, giving them an edge when it comes time for them to find jobs.

We began in 1994 as a single neighborhood Clubhouse and now serve more than 4,000 registered members with six Clubhouses, 15 school-based Clubs and a summer camp.
We constantly look for opportunities to meet that changing needs of the young people we serve. Our leaders belong to many community organizations and task forces. In addition, we partner with dozens of community organizations and agencies, including the county school district, law enforcement agencies, businesses and other nonprofits. These connections, strengthened over 28 years, allow us to stay abreast of changes.
We partner with colleges and universities to provide opportunities for members. During the summer, 25 teens took part in an eight-week boot camp at Keiser University, where they learned about careers ranging from nursing to forensics. A partnership with Embry Riddle University to train members in drone operation. A new Indian River State College program will train teens in business and entrepreneurship skills.
We also respond in other ways. When schools reopened after COVID, we saw that many young people who suffer the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) because of family circumstances were worse off after a year away from brick-and-mortar classes. As a result, we increased the infusion of principles of Social and Emotional Learning into our programming.
Also, we've sought funding to bring counseling to Club members who are most in need. Earlier this year we received a grant for a pilot project in which two part-time counselors will work with members at two Clubhouses. We continue to pursue additional funding to extend these services to more members.
We work with Tykes & Teens, a nonprofit youth mental health organization that continues to train staff in Trauma-Informed Practices and also is providing compassion fatigue sessions for our staff.
Another way to measure progress is through members' accomplishments. In the most recent survey of Club members:
 95% received positive marks for behavior in school;
 90% of teens plan to attend a trade school or college;
 97% abstained from cigarette smoking;
 92% reported abstention from alcohol within 30 days of the survey;
 95% reported they maintained or increased their knowledge of how to avoid negative behaviors; and
 Members contributed more than 20,000 hours of community service.
We recognize we must be able to measure the success of each program, so we have instituted a policy of Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI). Led by our Vice President of CQI, we are increasing our reliance on research-informed indicators, so we can measure the effectiveness of all the programs we offer.
We also have begun extensive employee training programs and a robust onboarding process for new employees. These initiatives, which provide skill-building opportunities and competency-focused trainings, help staff better understand how to collect and review the data that help us measure program quality.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
done We shared information about our current feedback practices.
  • Who are the people you serve with your mission?

    For the past 27 years, our organization has provided a variety of youth development services to the young people of St. Lucie County. We now serve more than 4,000 registered members with before- and after-school programs in six neighborhood Clubhouses and 15 school-based Clubs and a number of summer camp locations. We also provide specialized services, including our A+ Attendance truancy prevention program, to thousands of children across the county every year. In all, we serve more than 15,000 young people every year. We serve a highly diverse population, but focus our attention on "those who need us most," as stated in our Mission. In fact, 99% of registered members receive free or reduced-cost lunch at school. Our Clubs are located in underserved neighborhoods.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To identify new geographic service areas, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • What significant change resulted from feedback?

    For several years we successfully partnered with local organizations, including CareerSource Research Coast and the county Economic Development Council, to offer summer workforce readiness programs. These programs offered teens the opportunity to learn skills that would help them gain employment Based on feedback from education officials and local agencies, it became clear that there was far more demand and more need than could be met with a summer-only program. We responded with "Into the Future," a year-round workforce readiness program that includes workforce readiness programs, tours of local employers, Social and Emotional Learning, financial literacy and leadership skills, as well as hands-on training. The first class began this summer.

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback

Financials

Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Lucie County, Inc.
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Lucie County, Inc.

Board of directors
as of 10/17/2022
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Ms. Brian Hester

Chief Deputy, St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office

Term: 2022 - 2023

William Armstead

CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Lucie County

Sean Baldwin

Retired Chief of Police, Fort Pierce, FL

Linda Bartz

St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners

Jack Barrett

Retired Development Executive

Charles Cuono

Retired School principal

Richard Del Toro

Assistant Chief, Port St. Lucie Police Department

Douglas Farrell

President, DLF Media Consultants

Matthew Guettler

Guettler Brothers Construction

Diane Hobley-Burney

Chief of Police, City of Fort Pierce

Taylor Hoskins

Associate Attorney, Law Firm of Hoskins, Turco, Lloyd & lLoyd

Cecilia Jaimes

Commercial Lender, Vice President, CenterState Bank

Leslie Kristof

Campus President, Keiser University

Mike Lafreniere

Owner, Natures Grounds Landscape

George Landry

Interim Director of Public Utilities. St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners

Genia Leonard

Community Volunteer

Dr. Martin Lesin

Retired Chiropractor

Angelique Lyons

Attorney, Costangy, Brooks & Smith & Prophete, LLP

Jay McBee

CPA, DiBartolomeo, McBee, Hartley & Barnes, P.A.

Dr. Kevin Perry

Assistant Auperintendent, St. Lucie Public Schools

Mike Piazza

Lum Wealth Management Group, Raymond James

Sarah Pride

Community Volunteer

Nate Spera

Chief, St. Lucie County Fire Department

Mark Tremblay

St. Lucie County Chamber of Commerce

Alfonso Jefferson

Deputy Administrator, St. Lucie County

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 9/21/2021

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
Black/African American
Gender identity
Male, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 09/08/2021

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.