Boys and Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley

Boys & Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley: Let the Kids Play! – As new COVID strains and surges are reported weekly, community sports & recreation activities are slow to return to society and/or have limited availability. Notwithstanding the daily reports, it is vital that the youth increase their daily physical activity, as it is statistically proven to improve their overall health & support their immune system. Nevertheless, eastern Coachella Valley students and families remain sedentary due to a lack of training and resources to help initiate a path to better health. A special report conducted in 2019 by HARC Data found that 46.1% of Coachella Valley youth have a body mass index (BMI) percentile that places them in the “overweight” or “obese” category. Furthermore, 78% of eastern Coachella Valley youth revealed they were not engaged in physical activity outside of school compared to 67% in central and west Valley, leading to 54% of eastern Coachella Valley youth medically classified as overweight or obese (HARC Data, 2019).

BGCofCV’s Healthy Habits program encourages club members to participate in daily physical activities offered by trained and qualified staff members. BGCofCV’s sports leagues, planned activities & tournaments, and drop-in activities help youth build confidence, self-discipline, conflict resolution skills, sportsmanship, leadership, and character traits. As a result, more than 60% of club members who are enrolled in BGCofCV’s Healthy Habits program reported participating in an hour of physical activity outside of school at least twice a week. The Anderson Children’s Foundation grant will provide cross-fit training equipment and indoor/outdoor life-size board games to ensure club members have the tools and resources to stay healthy, regardless of social distancing or lack of available exercise equipment due to COVID/pandemic restrictions.

Contact: Dr. Quinton Egson, CEO

Phone: 760-836-1160 x107

Email: qegson@bgcofcv.org

The recent world events, COVID-19, accelerated the launch of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley's newest program, the Virtual Clubhouse. When the Boys and Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley closed our four clubhouses (Indio, Coachella, Mecca, and La Quinta) to ensure the safety of our club members and their families, our staff members swiftly went into action and began recording and uploading content to the online platform.

The Virtual Clubhouse brings the same quality programs, as well as the familiar trained and qualified Club staff, into the homes of each club member; thus, promoting the healthy behaviors, academic excellence and leadership skills that we know foster great futures for our members. It is imperative during this time that our youth remain connected to the club staff and programs, as the quarantine is going to affect the children mentally and physically. The Virtual Clubhouse will keep the youth connected to trusted and qualified staff members who also serve as their mentors, coaches, friends, and even parental guidance when needed.

The Virtual Clubhouse includes a mobile app that allows real time text and email alerts in the event of emergencies or to broadcast important Clubhouse updates to our families. It also features clubhouse information and up-to-date schedules for each of our four clubhouses. These features will allow the youth to remain connected to the clubhouse staff and volunteers during the COVID-19 quarantine, as well as following the end of the quarantine when the youth are unable to make it into the clubhouse.

Instruction videos will allow the children to readily access any one of our healthy behavior lessons at home and share it with their entire family. Youth will have access to an entire library of media that will empower them to choose healthy behaviors, excel academically, and lead others through their example.

Healthy Habits was launched in 2005 by Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services to get kids to eat healthier, become more physically active and increase their ability to engage in healthy relationships. Designed to incorporate healthy living and active learning in every part of our Clubs, Healthy Habits emphasizes good nutrition, regular physical activity and improving overall well-being. The Anderson Children’s Foundation is funding support for 160 youth (ages 7-15) that attend our four clubhouses in Indio, La Quinta, Coachella and Mecca. Healthy Habits is a six-week curriculum that cycle 4 times throughout the school-year. Each cycle targets 10 youth per clubhouse for a total of 40 youth at a time and 160 youth by the end of the year. The core components include nutrition classes, group exercise and physical activity, parent and family nights, community involvement activities, sports tournaments and access to the gym and exercise room on a regular basis. This year we are adding a technology component to help us track the nutrition knowledge and physical activity outcomes through the use of tablets and fitness trackers. We thank the Anderson Children's Foundation for joining arms with us to address Coachella Valley youth's health needs.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley is committed to ensuring that Coachella Valley youth, especially those who need us most, graduate from high school on time with a plan for the future. That’s why we launched Summer Brain Gain—a summer learning loss prevention program developed specifically for Boys & Girls Clubs.

Summer Brain Gain is comprised of modules with fun, themed activities for elementary school, middle school and high school students. Supported by Disney, each module takes a project-based learning approach: youth engage in a process of learning through discovery, creative expression, group work and a final project or production. As a result, kids develop higher-order thinking skills through the Summer Brain Gain modules while staying on track for the coming school year.

Diplomas to Degrees (d2D) is a program at the Boys & Girls Club that prepares high school students for college and career success. Club members live in the Coachella Valley, and the majority come from low-income Latino families. The d2D program works in three stages: The Basic Level, when parents attend planning workshops; the Intermediate Level, when students meet in workshops to prepare for college; and the Advanced Level, where students implement these lessons and actively make decisions. Many of these workshops focus on specific goals, such as FAFSA completion and SAT prep classes. The program also transports students to college fairs and college campuses outside of the Valley. By guiding students through each step of the process, Diplomas to Degrees makes college an exciting and attainable goal.

Our Diplomas to Degrees program is now available at the Mecca, Desert Hot Springs and Indio Boys & Girls Clubs. This program helps youth develop goals; supports young people with step-by-step progression to become college-ready; provides experiences such as college tours to familiarize youth with the post-secondary educational lifestyle; assists youth in pursuing and securing essential financial aid; and fosters supportive relationships between program participants and adults who can provide ongoing support through the young person's college experience.

Last year we serviced 175 Coachella Valley youth among which graduating youth will be attending College of the Desert, California State University, Chico, San Bernardino, Sacramento, and Fullerton; University of California, Irvine, Davis, Los Angeles; and Stanislaus College.