For teenagers, thinking about what life will look like in five, 10, or 20 years can be challenging. The high-level goals around wanting family, health, and wealth are often there, but the specifics of how to achieve those goals are fuzzy. That’s where Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Southwest Michigan (BGCSWMI) is focusing and redoubling their efforts.
One of the newer programs BGCSWMI is extremely proud of is the recently launched Level Up at The Club. Level Up is a combination of a $1.29 million capital renovation at their Benton Harbor Teen Center and an investment in intentional life and workforce skills programming for young people. The thought is that the Club can be a resource for teens seeking to gain insights and skills related to potential career paths, while also having fun and building their social networks with peers.
“We’ve had life and workforce skills programs in the club before, but the structure of the new offerings is definitely more intentional,” said Sherri Ulleg, Vice President of Marketing and External Communications for BGCSWMI. Ulleg said the BGCSWMI has repeatedly heard from area employers that they’re struggling to hire qualified candidates.
“So many of the young people we see in our community want to know there’s a path for them after high school, but oftentimes, no one has shown them how to successfully make that transition. We want to help our kids close that gap. We want our teens to be moving into the world successfully. We know that preparing them at this age, and even younger, is what’s going to help them get to where they want to go.”
Ulleg added that the Boys & Girls Club already helps young people earn certifications and get college prep. What they want to do now is take the next step and bring a hands-on learning environment to youth. That vision is quickly becoming a reality.
“Part of Level Up at The Club includes a brand-new Best Buy Teen Tech Center. Thanks to a generous commitment from the Best Buy Foundation and other donors, we will transform the lower level of our Teen Center into the Best Buy Teen Tech Center, which is amazing and will bring the world of technology to our kids.”
“We are really excited this is happening. We are bringing together tools and technology for the kids that they’ve not had access to before. We’ll have a full recording studio. We’ll have the ability for coding and gaming. There’s game design and 3D printing and all those things that will help move our kids into the fast-changing world of technology.”
While the lower level of the Teen Center will be largely dedicated to hands-on technology, Ulleg said the upper level will remain focused on academic success, character and leadership development, helping young people live a healthier lifestyle, and in-depth workforce programming.
The transformation and deliberate workforce focus carries costs.
Ulleg said fundraising efforts so far have been great and the team is looking for additional grant opportunities and partnerships to keep the program (and related fundraising) moving forward.
“It’s ongoing. There’s a lot of follow up and building programs. We don’t have all these programs built yet. We continue to seek out and work with the community partners who frankly know more about these areas than we do,” said Ulleg.
“We want to build a diverse network for our kids. They have so many different interests, and we want to bring people in who can help meet them where they are and figure out how to get them to the level where they want to be. We are all focused on helping kids get to the next level.”
Asked what success looks like, Ulleg said it’s different for every young person.
“Not every high school graduate is going to go straight to the workforce, but we also know not every person is going to choose college. Some of our young people really are interested in, ‘How do I join the workforce now and build upon that to make that a lifelong career for me?’”
Ulleg said when young people don’t know what they want to do for a career, to be exposed to all these opportunities and find something of interest is amazing.
“We want to give them those opportunities.”
Ulleg said Level Up at The Club is about building meaningful partnerships. She said they also want to make sure they are bringing people, partnerships, and technology together for a purpose. She said that’s already proven to work.
“Every kid has a future and they come to the Club to figure out what they’re born to do. We had a young man come in who is an alumnus. He is about to graduate from Ball State University. He talked about his experience here at the club and how he and his friends just wanted to be exposed to all these different careers,” said Ulleg.
“He found gaming here at the club and he started with Minecraft — building a world around him. That led him to a career in architecture and design. Now he’s graduating from Ball State University, and he has a position waiting for him at Tower Pinkster in Kalamazoo. From Minecraft to dreaming of a career, and then having it actually come to fruition is pretty amazing. That’s what we want to give every kid, regardless of what their dream is.”
Boys & Girls Clubs SWMI
Ask for more information
