So you know how we invest your sales tax dollars, we’re proud to put the spotlight on some of the many Jackson County organizations we fund.
Partner Overview: Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City
For more than a century, Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City has been changing the lives of local at-risk youth. With six sites and four partner locations, kids throughout the metro area can find a path to learn how to ignite a bright future — right in their own backyard.
Why CSF Supports Boys & Girls Club
In 2019, more than 29,000 Jackson County, MO children received public mental health services for serious emotional disturbances. 8.3% of teenagers in our county attempted suicide. Jackson County kids need help. The kind of consistent, healthy support a one-to-one youth mentorship program provides. Adult volunteers for Boys & Girls Clubs come alongside young people in a variety of programs – including the Life Coach Mentoring program – to listen, guide, teach, encourage, and help them grow and thrive.
Why it Works
Over the years, studies of youth mentorship programs have shown immediate and long-term benefits for their mentees.
Adolescents’ mental health, emotional wellness, and social wellbeing improve when in a mentorship. This leads to:
- Healthier relationships and lifestyle choices
- Enhanced self-esteem and self-confidence
- Stronger relationships with parents, peers and teachers,
- Improved interpersonal skills
- Earning higher grades
- Being less likely to start using drugs or alcohol
- Showing a decrease in negative and violent behaviors
Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City helps kids develop the skills, values and self-esteem they need. And it works. For the last five years, 100% of active Club members have graduated high school. As the 2021 Youth of the Year Aleisa W. said, “The Club has always been a place for me to dream. But it’s also been a place to turn my dreams into a plan for my future.”
Children’s Services Fund has been supporting Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City since 2018. For 2022, we awarded $270,000 for their Whole Child Development Program, which supplements basic education, enriches information taught in schools and helps apply learning to everyday life.
Find out how you can help mentor through the Clubs — and help influence a young person’s life right here in Jackson County. Visit BGC-GKC.org.
