Who owns boys and girls club

Hall was also part of the Wall Street world and had many friends as well-to-do and prominent as he was. The new national organization now had two important men to share the leadership. Atkinson and Hall would hold these offices for a total of 55 years.

The national office issued a proclamation to the members of all affiliates. Training camps were set up all over the country, and groups of boys spent 10 days preparing themselves for farm work. They learned how to harness and drive horses, milk cows, and care for pigs, chickens, and sheep. They learned to plant, plow,cultivate, harrow, and mow. Only boys over sixteen could work on farms, but the younger ones had their own assignments.

Racial Integration : The millions of African-American families that came north during the twenties in search of a good life had a difficult time.

They left homes and family members behind. They faced the trauma of poverty and the distrust of new surroundings, especially when the surroundings happened to be crime infested slums.

In Northern areas, the African-American community had already begun to form their own groups to help their children.

William T. This highly successful club had a gymnasium, a reading room, vocational training areas, swimming pool and campsites. Eight hundred boys, many of them colored, are enthusiastic members.

In the s, there was greater visibility of influential African Americans. The community had developed its own voices. Outstanding among these was W. William Edward Burghardt DuBois. In he became the first African-American to earn a Ph. He spent his life as a spokesman for his community, writing 22 books, creating four academic journals, and establishing the Department of Social Work at Atlanta University.

The Depression affected all Americans, but for those at the poverty level with no resources, the situation was truly desperate. Nationwide, it was a hard time for families. With unemployment so prevalent, a crisis in domestic life developed. Marriage and childbearing declined. Families lost their homes, some lived on the streets. Others built shanties in parks or even on garbage dumps.

Waves of desperation took many forms. Suicide rates went up. They demanded immediate cash payment redemption for year bonds issued to them as service veterans. Since the bonds were not yet mature, their demands were refused, and U. Army troops were sent in to suppress the marchers. Four veterans died and 1, were injured. But these organizations were also low on funds. Atkinson, the chief professional BCA officer, retired.

Without a suitable replacement, President William Hall began to wear two hats and wore them with distinction throughout thes, always serving as a volunteer. The economic disaster that began in reached bottom with the collapse of the banking system in People looked to Washington, D. The homeless were housed in National Guard halls.

Bread lines were a common sight in cities, and thousands of jobless men roamed the countryside or rode the rails. A major objective of the expanded role of the Federal government during the s was to mend these ills.

Some of the efforts included the start of the Social Security system, the Emergency Banking Act to reopen the banks, the Minimum Wage Act of , and the passing of the 21st Amendment to end Prohibition.

They thought these actions were bringing a Socialist revolution to this country. It had a dual purpose — to provide jobs for the many young men who could not find work and to improve the ecological structure of the country.

Thank you. Imagine, changing the stories of vulnerable children and youth in our community. Your help ensures vulnerable children and youth have every opportunity to live a remarkable life. Learn More. Get Started. Thank you! In the United States in there were some Boys' Clubs serving a quarter-million boys. New York had the most with 57 clubs, followed by Massachusetts with 40, and Pennsylvania with The new organization added field staff, which spread out in an effort to establish more clubs around the country.

But it was a difficult time to think about expansion. Because of the Great Depression of the s the Boys' Clubs were called on to do more than just provide after-school activities. They now fed the children, offering sandwiches, milk, and fruit, and even provided clothing. Staff took wage cuts and community benefactors remained committed to supporting the work despite the financial hardship. As a result, not one of the clubs was forced to close during this difficult period.

In Hall was able to convince his old friend, Herbert Hoover, to become chairman of the organization's national board of directors. The former president was more than a figurehead, however.

He oversaw a reorganization of the business side of the Boys' Clubs in order to fund the current work and an expansion of the program. Hoover's fund-raising efforts culminated in the establishment of the "National Associates of the Boys' Clubs of America" program, which recruited influential businessmen and government officials around the country.

They in turn wrote personal letters on company stationery to members of their communities requesting financial contributions. The National Associates also solicited funds from corporations and foundations. As a result of these efforts, the Boys' Clubs organization was eventually put on a solid financial footing.

Those too young to serve took part in the "Victory Volunteers" program, collecting such materials as aluminum, paper, rubber, scrap iron, and tin; collecting phonograph albums, books, and crossword puzzles for servicemen; and drumming up sales of War Bonds.

As a result of his four decades of leadership, the Boys' Clubs had become part of the fabric of the country, prompting the U. Congress in , on the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Federated Boys' Clubs, to award it a Congressional Charter. Herbert Hoover stayed on as chairman, eventually serving more than a quarter-century in the post. In the organization celebrated the th anniversary since the founding of the first Dashaway Club, and opened a new national headquarters building in New York, located across from the United Nations Building.

It was named the Herbert Hoover Building. During the second half of the 20th century, the Boys' Clubs movement continued to spread while adjusting to the changing times.

Girls first started participating in programs in the s and their numbers steadily increased. The organization established a target of 1, clubs serving one million children, a goal that was met in In the national organization underwent a reorganization in order to improve services to local clubs. Spearheading this effort was Thomas G. Garth, who had dropped out of the University of Illinois to go to work for a local club and ten years later joined the national office. He would spend his entire working life with Boys' Clubs and become one of the greatest influences in the organization's growth during the final decades of the century.

In Boys' Clubs of America dropped the apostrophe, becoming Boys Clubs of America, but that name would soon be superseded as well.

The number of girls involved in the clubs had become substantial, so that by the organization served one million boys and , girls. Garth, who was named national director in , not only supported the increased participation of girls but also made an effort to bring clubs to where children most needed them.

During the eight years that he headed the organization, the number of clubs operating in housing projects grew from 40 to He also opened clubs on Native American lands, and in locations not generally associated with Boys Clubs, such as military bases, a homeless shelter, a shopping mall, and even inside a correctional facility for youthful offenders.

To help determine the best place to open new clubs, the organization also began to take advantage of technology, using computer mapping and demographic analysis to reveal the number of potential members in a neighborhood. Girls Clubs of America Inc. Girls Clubs contended that the name change would confuse the public and hurt its fund-raising efforts.