by Christopher Peak | Oct 25, 2019 4:46 pm

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Posted to: Schools, The Hill

A six-figure grant from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven will allow the Boys & Girls Club to keep the doors open at its three existing sites while it develops a long-term plan.

That last-minute support was announced at a Friday morning press conference at the club’s Columbus Avenue headquarters, averting an end to the 150-year-old club’s after-school programs, which Mayor Toni Harp said would have been “nothing short of a childcare emergency.”

“This is a great day for the kids that we serve, their families and the entire community,” said Stephanie Barnes, the club’s executive director. “We have much more work to do, but with continued support from the people in this room, we can preserve and grow these critical services for youth in New Haven.”

Earlier in the week, as first reported by WTNH, the Boys & Girls Club told parents it would abruptly close its doors. The nonprofit organization didn’t have enough cash on hand to stay open longer, explained Alex Discepolo, an accountant who has served on the club’s board for 20 years.

The Boys & Girls Club lost nearly $100,000 in funding last summer, after Lincoln-Bassett decided to redirect part of a Commissioner’s Network grant that had gone to the organization to teacher stipends for after-school tutoring.

“This short-notice circumstance presented itself with no easy answer. The Boys & Girls Club is a private entity, and we understood it to have seemingly insurmountable financial difficulties, at least in the short term,” Mayor Harp said. “This uncertainty thrust upon so many New Haven families prompted a community response and became a priority to me to help those families avoid uncertainty, upheaval and expense of making new after-school arrangements for their children on short notice.”

After the news broke, city and school officials offered an alternate space at Roberto Clemente School. Then grant-makers at the Community Foundation offered to donate $125,000.

“We know we’re going to need a lot more than that for a sustainability plan, but this allows us time to work with others on that,“ Barnes said.

That grant, which is intended to last for three years, was already in the months-long process of being awarded. But the foundation expedited the first $75,000 payment to allow the Boys & Girls Club to continue all its existing programs without interruption.

“Fortunately, The Community Foundation’s regular Board meeting took place yesterday so we were able to vote and expedite payment so that the Club could remain open and can continue to provide afterschool services through its programs in its facilities,” Christina Ciociola, senior vice-president for grantmaking and strategy at The Community Foundation, stated in a press release issued Friday afternoon. “We are committed to working with the Club on plans for the future and its critical services to the hundreds of families in our community that benefit from the program.”

The club serves 250 kids a day at three sites: the main center on Columbus Avenue, the Housing Authority’s Place for Families Computer Lab on Wilmot Road, and the Bishop Woods Architecture & Design Magnet School on Quinnipiac Avenue.

The city will likely put in additional funding too. Harp said that she is waiting to see more details from the nonprofit’s books about how much it needs to cover its expenses. She added that her administration, including Controller Daryl Jones, has been working with the club’s leadership to “stabilize” its finances.

Harp said that financial crisis revealed how quickly New Haveners could come together to support their institutions.

“The coalition came together with just a moment’s notice to ensure safe, supervised activities for children enrolled, peace of mind for families and a community response for an on-the-ropes not-for-profit provider,” she said. “This week’s joint response and the cooperation built into it is just the latest example of a city that gels when it’s needed most. As mayor, I’m so proud of the resolve, the willingness to step up and the kindness of heart built into this resolution.”

“This shows what we can do as a city,” added Alder Ron Hurt. “We have suffered a great deal in the Hill trying to keep our children safe and involved in after-school programs. This is just the beginning.”

The Boys & Girls Club is accepting donations online at www.supportbgcnh.org, and it can be reached by calling 203-787-0187 or emailing the board’s chair, Greg Mickelson, at pgmickelson@hotmail.com.

A previous version of this story follows:

City Crafts Boys & Girls Club Rescue Plan

Mayoral spokesperson Laurence Grotheer announced that new partnership, and confirmed the imminent closure of the local privately run after-school program, in a press release sent out Thursday afternoon.

WTNH first reported earlier this week that 253 Columbus Ave.-headquartered organization is on the brink of closing.

The club’s director has not responded to requests for comment on the closing for several days as parents have frantically sought answers. Board president Greg Mickelson told the Independent Thrusday afternoon that a press release that a public statement would be forthcoming.

According to the mayoral press release, the city, the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS), and Elm City Communities / the Housing Authority of New Haven, will be providing supervised, after-school programming for children currently enrolled in the Boys & Girls Club of New Haven.

“This short-notice circumstance presented itself with no easy answer: the Boys & Girls Club is a private entity with what seem to be insurmountable, short-term financial difficulties,” Mayor Toni Harp is quoted as saying in the release. “With thanks to my staff, NHPS staff, and Dr. DuBois-Walton and her staff at the housing authority, we identified resources and a location – and addressed transportation issues – to help these families resolve what would otherwise have been a childcare emergency.”

The press release included a letter, which can be read in full here, that has been signed by Harp, NHPS Interim Superintendent Iline Tracey, Board of Education President Darnell Goldson, and ECC/HANH Executive Director Karen Dubois-Walton. The letter is addressed to “families of students enrolled in the Boys and Girls Club of New Haven,” and, per the release, will be distributed later Thursday night.

In that letter, the authors write that the Boys & Girls Club will discontinue all after-school services on Friday. The new city-NHPS-ECC partnership will provide “temporary support for students” starting Monday, Oct. 28 and continuing through Wednesday, Dec. 18.

The new temporary programs guidelines are listed as:

• The programs located at the Columbus Avenue Boys & Girls Club will be relocated to Roberto Clemente School at 360 Columbus Ave. and will be managed through this new partnership.

• All students currently enrolled in the Boys & Girls Club after-school programs are eligible to attend the new Afterschool Partnership Program.

• The programs at the Wilmot Road Boys & Girls Club will remain the same but will be managed through the new partnership.

• Transportation services for students who attend the Columbus Avenue Boys & Girls Club will be provided as usual, except the buses that would have stopped at the Boys & Girls Club will be re-routed to Roberto Clemente.

• After-school program parents and families who will be at Clemente should pick up students from the rear entrance of the school and not from the front entrance of the school unless specific arrangements have bee made to do so.

• Families will receive parent link, email, text, and letter notifications of these changes and adjustments to the program.

“We recognize that this is a stressful experience for students and families and we hope that through this collaborative effort and engagement with you,” the letter concludes, “we can help alleviate some of the anxiety that might come with this sudden change.”