Clubhouse Network Inc

The Clubhouse mission is to provide a safe, creative out-of-school learning environment where young people from underserved communities work with adult mentors to explore their own interests, develop skills, and develop confidence in themselves through the use of technology. In support of that mission, The Clubhouse Network supports community-based Clubhouses around the world by providing start-up support, professional development, new technology innovations, evaluation and assessment, partnership opportunities, and access to an online community for youth, mentors, and staff. Clubhouses operate in a variety of community settings, such as Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCAs, libraries, and community centers. Today Clubhouses reach 25,000 low-income youth (ages 12-18) per year in more than 100 locations in 20 countries around the world, with more on the horizon.
But The Clubhouse Network’s goals are broader than simply expanding in size. While un- and under-employment of young adults from low-income communities are disproportionately high, businesses struggle to find qualified candidates—especially from underrepresented groups—to fill positions in the STEM workforce. With its focus on professional technology tools and life skills valued in the workforce (problem-solving, initiative, collaboration), The Clubhouse Network holds a unique position to address these challenges. In response it has launched “Clubhouse-to-Career (C2C) Pathways to Success,” providing young adults with weekly technology and work readiness workshops that culminate in paid summer job placements. C2C Pathways operates in 17 Clubhouses, with more to come.
Each Clubhouse has as its goals:
• Foster long-term mentoring relationships between youth and adults, emphasizing positive character and leadership traits, life skills and exciting real-world applications of technology.
• Increase academic engagement, academic self-perceptions, and high school completion among young people from under-represented minority groups, with an emphasis on building awareness of and interest in STEM fields and careers.
• Guided by caring adult mentors, increase positive behavior choices among Clubhouse youth, such as school attendance and avoidance of negative peer groups, gangs, drugs, and alcohol.
• Provide meaningful workplace experience for participants, together with wrap-around support services to assist them in identifying a pathway to success and the relevant steps to support their journey on that path.

Current Clubhouse Network goals are to strengthen infrastructure, effectively grow the number of Clubhouses and C2C Pathways programs around the world, and roll out a Clubhouse Continuum model to deepen youth impact, establish an intentional youth leadership pathway for young people, and create a lifelong and worldwide community of alumni through increased opportunities for meaningful engagement.

Free of charge, the Clubhouse offers young people from diverse backgrounds a positive, fun way to spend out-of-school time in a creative, supportive environment. Founded in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab, the Clubhouse is at once an artist studio, inventor's workshop, design house, film sound stage and backlot, hackerspace, music studio, and video game development lab. Youth become fluent in the use of professional software tools; create computer-generated art, music, and video; develop scientific simulations; design animations; build kinetic sculptures and robots; construct Web pages; and program computer games.
But the Clubhouse goes beyond technology: Its approach is based on research on the importance of interpersonal relationships and community in the learning process, particularly for teens. Young people come to see themselves as designers, inventors, developers, and creators -- not just consumers -- of technology. In the process they become inspired about learning and about their own future.
The Clubhouse learning approach is designed to empower youth from all backgrounds to become more capable, creative, and confident learners. This approach is grounded in research from the fields of education, developmental and social psychology, cognitive science, and youth development. It builds on research on the role of affect and motivation in the learning process, the importance of social context, and the interplay between individual and community development. It leverages new technologies to support new types of learning experiences and engage young people who have been alienated by traditional educational approaches.
Above all, the Clubhouse is a learning community where youth are inspired to do and be their best, adult mentors provide coaching, peer-to-peer learning takes place, and everyone contributes to a positive culture. By encouraging young men and women to explore the many creative uses of technology and develop professional technology skills as well as life skills such as problem-solving, teamwork, and initiative, the Clubhouse makes a contribution to breaking the cycle of poverty and solving the problem of under-employment.
Over the years, the Clubhouse has given hundreds of thousands of youth from low-income communities the chance to explore innovative applications of technology, igniting young people's interest in learning, involvement, and achievement, while helping them develop invaluable life skills and leadership abilities.

The Clubhouse Network is a 501c3 non-profit incorporated in Massachusetts and led by long-time Executive Director Gail Breslow. The organization is governed by a board of 10 directors, including several business leaders, an alum of the Flagship Clubhouse, and the parent of a long-time youth member.
The Clubhouse Network has had three homes over the years: at the Computer Museum on Boston’s waterfront (1993-99), at Boston’s Museum of Science (2000-17), and now in an independent storefront location in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, where it relocated after separating from the Museum to better pursue its own mission and reach the youth and families it serves.
The Clubhouse Network not only operates the Flagship Clubhouse but also provides start-up and ongoing support to each of the 100+ Clubhouses around the world in the form of start-up support, professional development, new technology innovations, evaluation and assessment, partnership opportunities, and access to an online community for youth, mentors, and staff. The Clubhouse Network has 17 full-time staff based at its headquarters in Roxbury.
Since moving to Roxbury in 2018, The Clubhouse Network has been thriving. Youth membership at the Flagship has more than doubled to nearly 300. On any given day 30-50 youth come through the doors. This brings life and activity to a street that is often vacant after 5 pm, providing something meaningful for teens who might otherwise be at a loss or hanging out on the streets.
The response from funders has also been strong. The Clubhouse Network’s operating budget has grown significantly, and investment from partners such as Best Buy is fueling significant growth. In the next 5 years 60-70 new Clubhouses will serve low-income communities around the country.
Clubhouses are typically based in Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCAs, libraries, community centers, and youth agencies. Each individual Clubhouse has a full-time paid staff member hired by the local organization in its community. Volunteer mentors from diverse backgrounds assist, sharing their expertise and serving as role models for youth.
In addition to operating drop-in Clubhouses, many Clubhouses now offer “Clubhouse-to-Career (C2C) Pathways to Success” programs, providing young adults with weekly tech and work readiness workshops that culminate in paid summer job placements. C2C Pathways operates in 17 Clubhouses, with more to come. With its focus on professional technology tools and life skills valued in the workforce (problem-solving, initiative, collaboration), The Clubhouse Network holds a unique position to address the challenge of un- and under-employment of young adults in low-income communities, and the lack of representation in the STEM workforce.

Against a disturbing backdrop of high school drop-out rates and low college participation for low-income youth, 90% of Clubhouse members try harder and are more likely to be successful at school, and 95% plan to graduate from high school. More than 75% of youth report making better life choices as a result of the Clubhouse, and 94% are more optimistic about the future. More than three-quarters of Clubhouse members are interested in studying STEM, and 74% of members report that their Clubhouse experience has increased their interest in studying STEM. Perhaps most significantly, 97% of Alumni said the Clubhouse was THE most important source of support for setting high goals and expectations for themselves.
But it’s not just about numbers. Here’s a Clubhouse alumna reflecting on her experience: “My parents immigrated to the US a couple years before I was born. I eventually ended up in foster care with seemingly few chances for a better life. The Clubhouse helped me set my sights on positive goals, even when circumstances beyond my control challenged me. The work I do today is a function of the skills I learned at the Clubhouse beginning at age 12: I know how to learn quickly. I know how to persevere. I know how to negotiate. I assure you the Clubhouse is not just an afterschool hang-out… It is a space where my heart, soul, and spirit have found strength to believe in myself.”