Boys & Girls Club of Cathedral City

Our programs are focused on three basic goals -- developing strong academic and life skills, healthy eating, and active living.
These goals represent the key needs for the community we serve. The goals work together seamlessly to assure that our young people can succeed in school, graduate from high school, and continue on thereafter prepared with resources, resiliency and the personal confidence it takes to grow into a well-developed young adult. We want to do "everything it takes" to help each of our Club members be healthy, happy, focused, and able to achieve a promising life ahead. We are most fulfilled with our members leave as young adults ready to become self-sufficient people capable of making important contributions to their families and communities, earning a good wage, and living a life of fulfillment.

Academics: We're serving primarily Hispanic children and teens whose families are speaking limited English and without the skills necessary to help with homework and school studies. Up to third grade, we focus on reading skills because studies show that students who aren't reading and learning at grade level at this point often fall behind their peers, unable to ever catch up. Many students are promoted to the next grade level regardless of their skills level -- leaving many prone to disengagement in school over time. We employ a reading specialist to work with younger students at early stages to bring them up to reading at grade level. Beyond 3rd grade, we continue homework help and special guidance for those who need extra support, and then focus on programs that help to build collaboration, leadership, and teamwork skills; an appreciation for community service; social-emotional wellness; and other age-appropriate skills development programs; college/trade school and career prep; and general life skills. Our members are achieving a 100% grade-level advancement/high school graduation rate.

Healthy Eating: Our families are consuming mostly processed, high calorie/sodium/fat options at home, which are the most affordable choices to low-income families, so we focus a great effort on the idea of consuming healthy snacks and meals. We have an organic garden; and a free breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack program. We also have a food distribution center for our families, through our local Food Bank. One of our Board members is a local restaurant owner and chef and helps us learn how to use new ingredients and works with our kids so they are able to take recipes home and help their families learn about healthy meal prep, and 100% of our families utilize this program. We also implement Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s “Healthy Habits” nutrition and healthy lifestyles programming, where 75% of our members are benefiting by learning new habits. "Wellness Wednesdays" feature nutrition and cooking activities. As building healthy habits is a Club wide goal, all members learn about making healthy choices in all areas of Club programming.

Active Living: Our Triple Play (Mind, Body, Soul) Programs are research-and-curriculum-based programs developed by Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Active Living programs include physical activity, recreation, nutrition education, sports leagues, fitness, and social emotional development; 100% of our members participate and gain new skills in the general activities.

We have been serving our community for 40 years, with good outcomes and the appreciation of our Club members.

We are grateful to be part of a supportive community, in which we collaborate with many organizations and people who share the same compassion and vision of empowering our community's young people to grow and thrive to their fullest potential. We are stronger and most effective when we strategically collaborate together.

We are proud of the many years of compassionate commitment of our lead staff: CEO (38 years); Athletic Director (25 years); Director of Operations (21 years); and Program Director (11 years); and). Rich in history, while also moving forward with the times, making best efforts to serve the growing and changing needs of our community.

We are currently achieving the following:
100% on time grade advancement;
100% high school graduation rate;
100% of our families will participate and gain benefits from our Healthy Eating and food distribution program;
100% of members regularly attending the Club participate in Wellness Wednesdays programs and improve knowledge and practices of well-being;
100% of members regularly attending the Club will participate and gain new skills and relating to physical activity, social emotional development, fitness and other life-skills; and
75% of participants (on average annually) gain new and sustainable knowledge of healthy meal preparations in our "Healthy Habits" programming;

We also measure the outcomes of our Club activities through the Boys & Girls Clubs of America "National Youth Outcomes Initiative" (NYOI), which is an online, confidential self-survey that our Club members complete annually. This survey helps us gauge things like how we are performing as a Club, if our members feel safe and welcome at our Club, goals such as high school graduation and college, and more.

A snapshot of our results from the most recent (2018) survey are as follows:
Feel "safe" at the Club -- 100%
Making adult (mentor) connections -- 95%
Able to pursue goals: 95%
Feel part of a team: 92%
Feeling a sense of "belonging" -- 90%

Where our members need the most help:
19% of our 5th to 12th graders report they are not sure they will graduate from high school; however, 81% of those surveyed envision attending college.
Report being bullied on school campuses: 24%

The full report is available.

What's Next?

We have many wishes and needs for our Club, especially upgrades to our facilities after years of wear and tear, program supplies and equipment. We would be pleased to discuss these needs with you.

Organizationally, we plan to work toward more long-term sustainability through increasing revenues - through enhancing existing support, and cultivating new funding partners (we welcome conversations with individuals, corporations, and foundations).