Boys & Girls Clubs opening sites on Cleveland’s West Side

(Plain Press, October 2020)           Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio (BGCNEO) is opening two new ClubSmart Learning Centers – places where kids doing digital schoolwork can get in-person help — on Cleveland’s West Side.

            A ClubSmart Learning Center will open Monday, Sept. 28 at The City Life Center, 3340 Trowbridge Ave., a building which for years housed Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland’s West Side Club. A second ClubSmart location is scheduled to open Oct. 12 at Riverview Welcome Center, 1701 W. 25th Street.           Hours for the Trowbridge center will be 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays. The hours for the Riverview Welcome Center are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Centers are open to kids ages 6-18, and there is no charge.

Each location can serve up to 30 kids and will have four BGCNEO staff members on hand.

   The Trowbridge site is a partnership between BGCNEO and City Life, a relational, holistic, community-based ministry. The Riverview Welcome Center ClubSmart location is a collaboration between BGCNEO, building owner Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority and LAND Studio.

   BGCNEO has been searching for West Side locations since two schools in which it has Clubs – Joseph Gallagher and Luis Munoz Marin – closed in March. Gallagher Club Director Natasha Arroyo will now oversee the ClubSmart site on Trowbridge, while Luis Munoz Marin Club Director Alex Rivera will head the program at Riverview Welcome Center.

   For registration information, contact Sandra Del Valle at sdelvalle@bgcneo.org.

   “We are extremely pleased to be able to open these ClubSmart sites and serve the West Side families that have been such great supporters of our Clubs,” said BGCNEO President and CEO Jeff Scott. 

   Boys & Girls Clubs provide safe, fun places for kids ages 6-18 after school with an emphasis on academic success, healthy lifestyles and character development. This fall, BGCNEO opened ClubSmart Learning Centers in response to the needs of kids and families hurt by the digital divide.