“Innovation is what breeds breakthroughs. Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston recognizes that to be the leader in youth development, cultivating environments where our staff are encouraged and rewarded to think creatively is crucial.”
—Nick Sailor, Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston
This article was contributed by Nick Sailor, Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston.
Since 1893, the imprint of Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB) on Boston and Chelsea shines through in the everyday actions of our staff and partners as they work with our members and communities. To become an even greater leader in youth development, we sat down as an organization to define our core values; the values that have shaped and guided our work since the organization’s inception.
As BGCB’s Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), it remains a priority to ensure that our core values are inextricably linked with our DEI work. Our core values—youth first, integrity, community, equity, and innovation—drive all that we do and serve as a vehicle to amplify the work of DEI in our organization.
Youth First
Keeping our young people at the forefront of our decisions is the only way to make transformational change. All that we do to be more inclusive, create greater levels of equity, and celebrate diversity, must always start with our young people. Our actions in all that we do must be to uplift our youth.
Nick Sailor, Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston
Our Ready to Work (RTW) initiative places the needs of our young people at the center of its design. This workforce development initiative prepares our young people to be the future leaders of our city, Commonwealth, and country by connecting them with opportunities and learning experiences with Boston’s most prominent leaders. RTW is developing the next generation of problem solvers and great thinkers and providing the opportunity and resources for our young people to maximize their talent, while prioritizing their needs and career interests.
Integrity
As leaders in youth work, we model the behavior we encourage in our youth—to do the right thing. In the space of diversity, equity, and inclusion, integrity requires us to be fervent in our work every day.
Our YouthConnect program demonstrates integrity at the highest level. YouthConnect, in collaboration with Boston Police Department, seeks to provide violence prevention services, reduce juvenile crime, and divert young people from the criminal justice system is crucial and vital work in our community. Our licensed clinical social workers provide youth and their families around the city of Boston and Chelsea with free, confidential, voluntary counseling and resources.
Invest in Boston's Future
Give TodayCommunity
Building tomorrow’s leaders by sustaining communities today is BGCB’s ethos. To be that change, we must honor and uplift our neighborhoods through investing in our young people.
Throughout this past summer, our Clubs gathered with other local Boys & Girls Clubs to host Teen Nights, an evening for our older members to enjoy games, music, food, and opportunities to connect with teenagers from across the city. A different Club hosted each week, encouraging our members to venture out of their neighborhoods and experience other Clubs and communities. As a result, our teens enjoyed somewhere fun and safe to go on Friday nights, and forged new relationships with each other and their communities.
Club members during a swim lesson.
Equity
Equity is a process. How do we achieve it? By striving to remove the barriers that prevent our communities from accessing what they need to succeed. At BGCB, we understand that many young people today need extra support to realize their full potential.
Swimming, which has historically had a barrier to communities of color due to structural racism, is a critical program element at our Clubs. Ensuring that all members have access to free swim lessons gives them access to an essential life skill while also allowing them to pursue other passions like travelling swim team.
Depictions of BGCB’s core values drawn by Condon Club members.
Innovation
Innovation is what breeds breakthroughs. Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston recognizes that to be the leader in youth development, cultivating environments where our staff are encouraged and rewarded to think creatively is crucial.
Created in 2006 by former President & CEO Linda Whitlock, our President’s Innovation Fund is an internal grant opportunity for staff to develop innovative and engaging programs for our members.
Programmatically, the President’s Innovation Fund has developed unique programs like “Yawkey Club of Roxbury’s Props Drone Club, which provides members the opportunity to utilize flight simulators and create their own drone courses, allowing them access to innovative tech to be equipped to engage in the technology of the future.
Structurally, this program creates the culture where innovation drives better outcomes for our community, and enhances the opportunity to build on our hallmark programs, while consistently placing the changing needs and desires of our young people first.
