Thank you to Aureus Asset Management, the Boston Bruins, KPMG, and National Grid for welcoming our young leaders this summer.
This summer, Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB) members traded the playground for the boardroom, discovering the power of their potential in some of Boston’s most dynamic workplaces. Through the Young Leader program, our middle school-aged members received hands-on early career exposure and visited the offices of some of our corporate partners!
BGCB’s Young Leader cohorts are primarily comprised of participants from BGCB’s cross-club workforce readiness program, Ready To Work Academy (RTW). Throughout the school year, RTW Academy participants, known as RTW Junior Fellows, practice professionalism and learn the fundamentals of success in the workplace and explore future career paths. During the summer, RTW Junior Fellows apply to be Young Leaders, where they gain more responsibility at the Club and continue their professional development and learning. The Young Leaders program offers many members their first job opportunity and allows them to apply their RTW knowledge while gaining real-world work experience. A key component of the program involves visiting our corporate partner’s offices that align with their interests. During these visits, Young Leaders engage with industry mentors and gain valuable insights.
Did you know that early work experience can impact a person’s lifelong learning earning potential and overall well-being? That’s why these visits are so crucial. Hands on early career exploration, such as corporate office visits, is one of the critical ways in which BGCB is addressing this income inequality gap. Currently, the median household income in Back Bay is $141,250 compared to $41,211 in Roxbury. In 2019, Black workers made up only 8.9% of the ‘Management & Professional Occupations’ category. By giving our members hands-on experience in various industries, we’re working to change these statistics and build a more equitable future. Starting early and supporting our young people with meaningful career experiences plays a powerful role in how the organization moves forward in building the next generation’s talent pipeline, and positioning BGCB and our members to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
We are grateful to our community of corporate supporters who embody what it means to have a wholistic partnership, where they are not only invested in our mission, but also engaged with our members and their individual goals. If your company is interested in getting more involved with BGCB’s efforts to level the playing field for income inequality and grow our future workforce through robust partnerships, please reach out to Jasmine Santos at jsantos@bgcb.org
