Fall Impact Report '21

IMPACT REPORT NAPA KIDS, NAPA STORIES, NAPA COMMUNITY

FALL 2021

To inspire and enable all young people,

especially those who need us most to reach their full potential as

productive, caring, responsible citizens...

From the Executive, Fall is upon us and as the Napa Valley dives headlong into harvest and crush there’s a celebratory vibe within the walls of the Boys & Girls Club. We’ve spent the last two months engaged in retraining our long absent youth in the art of teamwork, harmony and the basic mechanics of how a Boys & Girls Club should run, look, and feel.

This time of year, it’s easy to become hyper-focused on work in and around the valley; and as an administrator there is ALWAYS work to be done. I have loved, however, visiting our sites and programs across the south valley and interacting with kids who, after a long absence, really appreciate the Club’s safe spaces. I’ve sat down with youth like Michael at our Afterschool Program at Napa Valley Language Academy who loves to play basketball with his friends afterschool. I hung out with Aizlynn in American Canyon who comes to the Club every day to get homework done and play dodgeball. The Club’s focus in recent months has been to welcome kids back with low intensity activities that focus on interpersonal skills and team building.

These lessons and skills are an absolutely vital aspect of our work but we were deeply excited to offer our core programs and clubs in October.

Our halls still echo with laughter and shouts of fun but our spaces are engaged with kids exploring STEAM activities, Zumba, and Yoga! So, parents, expect your kids to come home with paint on their fingers and grass stains on their pants. It’s a crazy time for all of us, but there’s joy, vibrancy, and growth in and among our programs and if that doesn't speak to our lives in Napa Valley I don’t know what else can.

Thank you for trusting us to care for and enrich the lives of your children as we continue our work through fall and into the holiday season!

Greg Bouillerce

Greg Bouil erce Executive Director

OCTOBER

15: All School Sites: CLOSED

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American Canyon Clubhouse

Napa Clubhouse

The Napa Clubhouse teens signed up for The Napa Learns Virtual Career Academy. We are excited to earn some more certifications this year! Courses include Digital Design & Media (Adobe), Information Technology (Cisco) and Business & Marketing (Google & Facebook).

Yoga has been a great way for members at the American Canyon Clubhouse to come together (while staying safely apart) and relax after a long day. Due to popular demand this club meets three times a week and grows with each meeting. In October we look forward to longer sessions and adding the art of meditation.

Napa Clubhouse middle school members had 1 hour to complete the Breakout EDU challenge that turned the middle school room into an escape room! Members worked together as a team to unlock all the riddles by using QR codes, USB computer files, solving math problems, code and 6 combination locks to unlock the secret with inside the box! They had a great time and look forward to creating their very own breakout scenario for their peers and staff to try next!

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As of August 18th the Boys & Girls Clubs has returned to school campuses throughout Napa Valley! How great it has been to see the faces of kids we’ve been missing since March of 2020! In a normal year the Club serves 1,400 kids every day throughout Napa and American Canyon. This year, which we’ve called the Year of the Club, we’ve registered over 1000 members in our first week of operation!

While that’s great we’re navigating a staffing crisis. With over 300 kids on waiting lists between Napa and American Canyon we’re calling on YOU to join our team! We strive to offer heartfelt, dynamic, and enriching programs for youth by ensuring that every child has access to highly-qualified and competitively compensated youth development staff. We are looking for fun, passionate, energetic, and engaging community leaders to join our efforts on behalf of Napa Valley youth. We need artists. We need athletes. We need thinkers. We need leaders. If you, or someone you know, is currently looking for work, additional hours, or is considering a change, please encourage them to consider a position with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley. If the pandemic has taught us anything it’s that your children need us now more than ever, and to do that we need your help.

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At the Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley we are VERY intentional about how we deliver enrichment programs. It shouldn't be any surprise then that EVERY aspect of our program is based on one of our five core areas. Fine Art programs are offered at every Club location, allowing members to experiment with multiple media and styles. This is SO much more than arts and crafts! Check out what the Members had to say in this video!

Are you ready to learn more about the programs offered at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley?! Check out a full list of programs we offer by following the QR Code to the right or just click:

!

Did you know that The Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley accepts vehicle donations?

That’s right! We partner with who coordinates the pick up and sale of the vehicle and then sends the proceeds directly back to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley!

Are you ready to donate a vehicle to the Boys & Girls Club? Donate for Charity makes it quick, easy, and painless! Learn More by following the QR Code to the right or just click:

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Will began his journey with the Club as a Club member at the age of eight in Richmond, California. “I immediately ran to the basketball court.” At the Club he was challenged and moved to look at his future in terms of how we would make a difference for those in and beyond his community. It’s no surprise to us that Will eventually made his way back to the Club. He currently manages our after school operations at Canyon Oaks Elementary School in American Canyon!

Are you ready to learn more about our success stories and impact? Dive into everything from Impact reports to member testimonials on our website! Just follow the QR Code to the right or click:

!

ith our return to in person programs this past summer and then school campuses in mid August an important conversation has been brewing among us as a community regarding learning loss. While that conversation is important there’s a separate and equivalent deficit to be addressed with regard to Social and Emotional wellness. Learning is a cornerstone of youth development but it is relationships and our ability to work together that propels society forward.

In March of 2020, like all of us, children across the nation severed ties with the outside world. We left schools and clubs and built these insulated pockets of humanity; together but still divided. Unlike adults, however, the loss of contact to friends, extended family members, and mentors meant that skills we develop as children and rely on to be successful as adults were set aside. This included essential skills like emotional intelligence, relationship building, and community engagement which could not be practiced in a vacuum and have atrophied.

Suppose for a moment that you are seven years old. You’ve spent the last 18 months largely at home with older siblings. It has been a very different experience from your life as a first grader. You woke up that morning in March and the largest constant in your life, school, had shut down. The friends you had there, the teachers you loved, all of the normalcy and structure that gave you context to understand and interpret the world around you and your role in it vanished overnight. For the next year you were almost entirely reliant on your immediate family members and a school issued Chromebook for meaningful social and academic growth. You don’t do sleepovers anymore. The big family dinner every Sunday was cancelled. You don’t have the option to spend time with friends separately and then one day you are plunged back into the thick of it. You are cast from your very intimate bubble into a sea of children who are all struggling to adapt. The importance of learning loss is a large part of the story but not the whole story.

If you have kids, you have probably seen evidence of this behavior at home.

How much TV are they watching? How much time are they spending on video games? How long have they been staring at their phone. In short, the hidden cost of the pandemic extends beyond the gradebook and into the fundamental shift in how our children interact with the world in the absence of

social contact, social expression, and most importantly social awareness. As a result, it’s on us as parents, teachers, and mentors to reset their environments by positively deconstructing a false normalcy induced as a result of safety concerns in the wake of the pandemic. That work isn’t easy. School and afterschool relies on reinforced social norms and expectations and the transition back to school has been brutal for our younger kids. Teacher’s commiserated with our staff recently that “They have no idea how to work as a group.” “When they walk into class they drop their things on the floor as they make their way to their desks. It takes us an hour every morning just to make sure that their things are stowed in their cubbies so that we can get to work.” These things seem small but they have a direct and cumulative effect on the student experience and their ability to learn.

Despite millions of dollars invested in digital learning and recovery in the county of Napa, we’ve paid little attention to social deficits associated with the pandemic. Those deficits continue to manifest in the form of social anxiety, behavioral outbursts, and continued isolationism. There’s hope though for those who recognize the opportunity. This type of learning isn't work you need a qualified professional to do. We all have the ability to have a lasting impact on the social and emotional health of our children by signing them up for activities and gently pushing them back into the world around us.

That’s why agencies like the Boys & Girls Club are so important as they create opportunities for youth to experiment with and master these skills in a safe and engaging environment. Just look at any of the programing available at the Club and you’ll see a variety of activities specifically and intentionally delivered to address these deficits. We do this through our fine arts programs which allow kids to express their emotional state through art. We do this through our sports programs, which keep our kids actively engaged and communicating as a team. We do this through our mental health programs which, with the help of Mentis Counselors, provide teens with a platform to talk about issues and personal struggles in a safe and productive environment. These critical opportunities force youth to breach the artificial and insular pockets we created during the pandemic and return to normalcy. You cannot hit the pause button on youth, but at the Boys & Girls Club, perhaps you can hit the fast forward button on growth.

Mayloni is a fifth grade member at the American Canyon Clubhouse. She’s been an active member since kindergarten but we lost touch with her during the pandemic. We are so thrilled to have her, like so many others back within our walls! Mayloni’s homelife is chaotic with three older brothers, dogs, and a hamster, and she’s so happy to have a quiet space at the Club to get her homework done during Power Hour! Here’s what Mayloni has to say about her time at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley!

Are you ready to learn more about our success stories and impact? Dive into everything from Impact reports to member testimonials on our website! Just follow the QR Code to the right or click:

!

oin us virtually on the evening of for the

Let s Get Crackin Let s Get Crackin

! That’s right, your favorite Napa Valley Crab feed is going virtual for a second year in a row with over a half ton of Crab to be consumed by boisterous supporters from the comfort of their own homes! This years Digital Auction will include thousands of dollars in Napa Valley wine and experience offerings in what is sure to be this years best winter wine auction!

Preorder Available:

11/01/21 Napacrab.org

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