Running Head: AGENCY REPORT 1

Agency Report: Boys and Girls Club

Kevin L. Carter
Wilmington University
Agency Report 2

My agency placement is with the Boys and Girls Club H. Fletcher Brown location

located in Wilmington Delaware. Upon being assigned to this location I was made aware that

they had gone through quite a bit of turnover this year, and that I could serve as an asset while

fulfilling my practicum assignment. My immediate supervisor met me and introduced me to the

Childhood Director on my first day, and I also met the Teen Director the same evening who

brought me up to speed with some of the changes that had taken place over the last few months.

Both directors started in the Spring of this year 2017. I met the new Unit Director the next

evening.

Mission & Focus

The H. Fletcher Brown location is one of 43 located in the region 25 of which are located in

Delaware (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties). The mission and focus of the Boys & Girls

Clubs of Delaware is part of a nationwide movement whose mission is to inspire and enable all

young people, especially those who need us most, to realize their full potential as productive,

responsible, and caring citizens. The way in which they accomplish this is by utilizing various

programs aimed at servicing inner city youth, some of which are:

Arts & Culture Pegasus Artworks

Character & Leadership Torch Clubs

Education and Career - Reading is Fundamental (RIF)

Health & Life Skills - Passport to Manhood

Specialized Programs - Specific

Sports, Fitness & Recreation Sports Leagues

Teen Initiatives Specific

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Services Offered

The programs are offered in various clubs, and used to fulfill the mission and focus of the

Boys and Girls Club organization. The Boys and girls Club also have core beliefs which consist

of creating a safe place to learn and grow, ongoing relationships with caring, adult professional,

life-enhancing programs and character development experience, and hope and opportunity (Boys

and Girls Club Delaware, 2017). Some of the services offered by the clubs is a swimming pool,

basketball court, two computer labs, gaming tvs, table games, tutoring, arts and crafts classes,

before and after school care (which offers transportation, and feeding programs), and evening

teen programming. There is a membership fee ($15,00) for the teen program which is subsidized

by grants that cover a portion of the membership fee. The fee for before and after school care is

also subsidized through the Purchase of care (POC) program, so parents only the equivalent of a

co-pay for their childcare.

Demographics

In the area code (19802) which the club services census demographics show that there is

a major need for the recreational and academic services offered by the club. Some of the census

data from 2011-2015 shows that bachelor degree or higher attainment in low in this locale at

26.4%, high school or higher attainment or higher was rather high at 83.2% which shows that

many in the city complete high school, and possibly go onto college, but very few attain a post-

secondary degree. The club can help fill this gap by providing services that educate high school

students about college, and better prepare them for enrolling and carrying through to degree

completion. The stats also identify the larger percentage of the locale is made up of an African

American population at 58.0%, as opposed to the white alone population 32.6% as of 4/1/2010.

Other stats around median household income being $40,465.00, median rent being $910.00, the
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persons per household being 2.3, and the part of the population in poverty being 24.5% all lend

in one way or another to the necessity of the clubs services being offered by in this area (Census

Data, 2015).

Organization Governance, and Structure

The organization chart shows that the board of directors head up the organization,

followed by the executive directors, under this leg of this leadership are the resource

development-director of operations-HR- and PR marketing. The lower rung of leadership is the

grant writer and the BGC site staff (Policies and procedures, 2014). At the Brown site the unite

director is over the club, the childcare director, teen director all work with him, there is an

aquatic director, membership coordinator, transportation, and food service personnel and various

counselors.

Funding

B&G Club funding comes from various avenues including special events, grants,

donations and corporate sponsors. Recently there were two major donations made by the

Delaware Criminal Justice Counsel for $25, 000.00 to support a youth re-entry program that was

to effect recidivism in Sussex County. Another amount for Summer 2017 programming was

donated by Neighborhood Building Block Grants to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware

$250,000 for summer and after-school activities for approximately 1000 teens in 5 locations:

Wilmington (2 sites), Dover, Milford and Seaford (Boys and Girls club Delaware, 2017).

Community Interaction

The Boys and Girls Club of Delaware is making a major impact in the local community.

They work collectively with other organizations in the community. There are various combined

as well as collective programs that are utilized. The B&G Clubs also allow other organizations
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and community groups to make use of their facilities. Some of the positive effects in the

community are:

Nationwide, 87% of Club kids graduate from high school, compared to the average of

66%

25% of Club kids graduate from college, compared to the national average of 16%

Police reports indicate that juvenile crime drops as much as 64% when a new Club opens

60% of Club members participating in educational programming see increased

performance in the Delaware State Testing Program

More than 4,000 youth participate each day in physical activity for more than 30 minutes,

helping to fight childhood obesity

All full-time staff in the Clubs are college-educated and professionally trained (Boys and

Girls Club, 2017)

Strength/Challenges

Some of the strengths that I have witnessed so far are that the workers at the clubs have a

cohesiveness, and unity that works toward accomplishing their goals. I admire their

determination in servicing the parents and youth that are part of the club. They also share a

passion for helping the youth accomplish their goals, there is a sincere investment in helping

each child, and even with multiple children they aim to give each individual attention. Some of

the areas in which I see improvement can be made is boosting membership, and trying to control

employee turnover, so the kids will stay consistent with the programs, because turnover can

negatively affects program implementation, and management.

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Policies and Procedures

There is a policy manual used by the organization as a whole which is 114 pages, and

was updated in 2014. There also exist an employee handbook that is used by the individual clubs

that is 123 pages long and was updated in 2016 (Policies and procedures, 2014).

Internships Role in the Organization

Some of the tasks that I have been involved in are:

Draft documents

Organize computer rooms

Facilitate billing revisions

Offer new ideas on programing

Create questionnaires

Create handouts

Implement programming

Marketing

Outreach facilitation

Organize community day

I am currently working with the directors on formulating plans for a community day slated

for Saturday October 14, 2017. I will be working this week on organizing the placement of

vendors inside and outside of the club, including the equipment that each one needs.
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References
Boys and girls club Delaware, (2017). Retrieved from https://www.bgclubs.org/
Census Data (2015). Retrieved from
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/map/wilmingtoncitydelaware,DE/EDU685215#vi
ewtop
Policies and procedures (2014). Policies and Procedures 2014 - Boys & Girls Clubs of Utah
County. Retrieved from
https://www.google.com/search?q=boys+and+girls+club+policies&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS
586US586 &oq=boys+and+
girls+club+policies&aqs=chrome..69i57.8994j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#