The professional staff, including licensed social workers, actively cultivate relationships with members to ensure they feel connected and have a strong sense of stability and belonging. Members develop critical thinking, physical, social, technological, artistic and life skills by participating in interactive activities intentionally designed to support their development and overall well-being.
Our Programs
BGCB offers accessible and affordable after-school time programming to children and teens in Boston and Chelsea
Our Club facilities and age-appropriate settings create a sense of physical and emotional safety for our members. Our staff make the Club feel like home – creating a family atmosphere.
- Career Readiness
- Education
- Leadership
- Life Skills
- Music and Arts
- Sports, Fitness, and Recreation
- Technology
- Violence Prevention
- Summer Programs
Ready To Work (RTW), BGCB's job readiness and career pathways initiative, takes a broad and comprehensive approach to preparing teens for their entrance into the workforce, offering workforce orientations and programs catering to members’ interests.
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We believe that all children can succeed academically and grow to be healthy, productive adults if given sufficient support and opportunity to learn.
BGCB’s education activities reinforce and enhance the skills and knowledge that young people gain at school. All members have the opportunity to receive homework help from a tutor.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston’s leadership programs allow members to practice and improve their decision-making skills.
The nationally chartered Torch Club (for youth ages 11 to 13) and Keystone Club (for teens ages 14 to 18) are complemented by specialized programs developed by the Clubs to support specific membership needs, including providing employment for members.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston helps members develop healthy self-esteem, resilience, motivation and the ability to make good choices.
Our full-time, licensed, Club-based social workers perform targeted prevention and intervention work in the areas of violence prevention, gang prevention, substance abuse prevention, conflict resolution, counseling, mediation, crisis intervention, and pregnancy prevention. They also work to help Club members access the existing resources within their own neighborhoods.
Each Club has space for visual, performing, and musical arts where children are encouraged to express themselves, develop new skills and talents, and expand their individual creativity.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston’s goal is to ensure that every member is exposed to, and has the opportunity to engage in, a wide variety of arts-based activities from music and dance, to visual arts and creative writing.
We help members develop healthy habits, skills for stress management, and social skills through participation in daily activities in our gyms, swimming pools, social recreation areas and outdoor play spaces.
Building on a program of traditional sports activities, BGCB now integrates activities such as karate and yoga, which require focus and discipline. Youth gain skills and build confidence to take on new challenges.
The primary goal of our technology program is to enable members to become “fluent” in the use of technology.
Our Clubs are members of The Clubhouse Network, a program of the Museum of Science, Boston with support from the MIT Media Laboratory. Technology also is incorporated in the Clubs’ libraries, recreation areas, and education centers. Club staff encourage young people to work alone or in groups as designers, inventors and creators.
YouthConnect is an innovative and unique program that provides violence prevention, intervention, advocacy and mental health services to young people who are involved in the criminal justice system and their families.
By placing licensed, clinical social workers in Boston police stations, YouthConnect works to address the underlying problems and social emotional issues that contribute to juvenile crime and delinquency by working with the entire family, not just the youth. All services are confidential, voluntary and free. Since 1996, YouthConnect has assisted over 16,000 youth and families across Boston.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston runs affordable summer camps in our Clubs and offers paid summer jobs for teen members.
Our full-day fun-filled camps for children ages 6-12 are designed to keep young people off the streets, educate them during the non-school months to help prevent summer learning loss, and provide recreational experiences to which they might not otherwise have access. Campers participate in a diverse roster of activities, including arts and crafts, science and technology projects, sports, field trips, and lots of swimming.
For more information or to register your child, please contact your local Club.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston’s summer camps comply with regulations of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and are licensed by the local board of health.
A day in the life of a Club kid
From the time members walk through the doors of their Club until they leave, they are engaged and inspired to achieve their full potential.
