Youth on a program call with staff after receiving their program materials for Sports Week.
Seeks to improve distance learning by launching “Program in a Box” for youth.
This year, Boys & Girls Clubs of Contra Costa, the community’s leading children’s nonprofit, launched their “Program in a Box” service for youth in Contra Costa County.
“Parents have been expressing concerns about the negative impact of distance learning,” said CEO Michael Dunn. “Our solution was to develop a program that requires youth to get hands-on! Our programs have materials delivered weekly to kids’ homes. The kids then complete projects and upload them to a secure website to share with our staff and their friends.”
Program bags below ready for delivery (Sports Week).
Boys & Girls Clubs of Contra Costa’s “Program in a Box” is revolutionary. Kids get program materials delivered DIRECTLY to their homes weekly. These program materials allow for our youth to participate in engaging projects covering STEM, Art, Sports and Cooking.
With this program we’ve found creative ways to help support parents and keep kids social and engaged during these unprecedented times.
“I spoke to a parent recently who started crying because her daughter has been struggling with distance learning, and our home delivered program materials provided a much-needed change of pace,” said Keirstan Faulkner, Director of Programs.
Additionally, staff gets on a weekly ZOOM calls with our youth for live engagement and fun. Our
members also have complete access to videos created by Boys & Girls Club staff members to follow along with the materials in the program boxes.
“This pandemic has been challenging, but we are committed to doing whatever it takes to keep our youth engaged and having fun,” said Dunn. “We are confident that this program will be very beneficial for our youth and families in Contra Costa County as we continue to work around distance learning.”
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Contra Costa has been serving Contra Costa kids at their Martinez and El Sobrante clubhouses since 1956. Today they serve thousands of kids with virtual programming, school supplies and food services programs. Before COVID-19, they served over 250 kids in-person each day at their clubhouse in Martinez and at three school sites throughout West Contra Costa.
For more information about the Boys & Girls Clubs of Contra Costa and their online programming, visit www.bgccontracosta.org. They are also looking for support to run these programs during these difficult times. If you can help, please donate at www.bgccontracosta.org/donate.
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