Since 1967, Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club (HHBGC) has been providing a safe place for children to learn and grow. Our mission is to inspire and enable youth ages 6 to 18 to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens. HHBGC now serves over 3,500 youth in St. Louis at three sites, two 21st Century Community Learning Centers, and at five schools through the Mentor St. Louis program.
The Club is open during hours that kids are most likely to need a safe place to go — after school and during the summer. HHBGC programs are based on the Youth Development Strategy, which assures that all members have experiences that promote a positive self-image. Nationally recognized programs assist youth succeed in school, stay healthy, pursue interests in arts, sports and explore career choices. Membership fees are kept low to allow any child the opportunity to join. An annual membership costs just $25 -- including free dental and vision care!
Each of our sites provides youth in the region with services in five core program areas:
Programs in Character and Leadership Development empower youth to support and influence their Club and community, sustain meaningful relationships with others, develop a positive self-image, participate in the democratic process and respect their own and others’ cultural identities.
Programs in Education and Career Development enable youth to become proficient in basic educational disciplines, apply learning to everyday situations and embrace technology to achieve success in a career.
Programs in Health and Life Skills develop young people’s capacity to engage in positive behaviors that nurture their own well-being, set personal goals and live successfully as self-sufficient adults.
Programs in The Arts enable youth to develop their creativity and cultural awareness through knowledge and appreciation of the visual arts, crafts, performing arts and creative writing.
Programs in Sports, Fitness and Recreation develop fitness, positive use of leisure time, skills for stress management, appreciation for the environment and social skills.
We serve kids in more than 75 zip codes, and our average daily attendance is approximately 500 youth. 44 board members, 72 full- and part-time staff, and 750 volunteers work diligently to create, implement and sustain programming that nurtures the growth and self-esteem of members. Volunteers donate roughly 30,000 hours of their time annually.
HHBGC has received a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator for the past 2 years. Only 19% of organizations rated nationally have received at least 2 consecutive 4-star evaluations.
Our Sportsman’s Park Unit, the original facility, currently serves nearly 2,800 children with over 300 youth attending daily. Located in North City, this unit operates at full capacity, 48 weeks a year, five days a week. The 78,000 square-foot facility houses a technology center, Metlife Learning Center, Target Reading Room, game room, MJL Aquatics Center, tennis courts, football field, gymnasium, art room, Crest Smile Shoppe Dental Clinic, Clarkson Eyecare Vision Clinic, teen center, performing arts/dance studio, multi-purpose community room, cafeteria and kitchen, fitness center, the All-Star baseball field, and administrative space.
The Adams Park Unit began operating in 2007 in South City at the Adams Park Community Center. This unit currently serves more than 700 children with more than 100 attending daily. The Club operates at full capacity, 48 weeks a year, five days a week. Located in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood, the 28,000 square-foot center offers organized sports, fitness and recreation activities as well as teen and education programs. The facility includes a gym, dance studio, fitness center, game room, computer lab, Clarkson Eyecare Vision Clinic, and the Jim Edmonds baseball field.
The Club's first school-based site, the Southeast Middle School Unit, which is located in the Hazelwood School District in the Spanish Lake area, opened in 2008. This unit operates for five days a week and serves 150 children with more than 50 attending daily. It is a partnership with Hazelwood School District and St. Louis County and shares a gymnasium, performance stage, library, technology center, cafeteria, art room and game room with the school.
Our 21st Century Community Learning Centers operate at Adams Elementary School and Columbia Accelerated Elementary School, with each center serving 80 kids. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program supports the creation of community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours for children, particularly students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools. The program helps students meet state and local student standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and math; offers students a broad array of enrichment activities that can complement their regular academic programs; and offers literacy and other educational services to the families of participating children.
Mentor St. Louis currently serves kids at Cote Brilliante, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Farragut, Jefferson, and Sherman Elementary Schools, all of which are St. Louis Public Schools. Volunteer mentors hold individual, monthly, one-hour meetings with nearly 500 student mentees to enhance literacy and reading skills, trigger discussions and creative thinking, and build students’ self-esteem. The site-based model allows Mentor St. Louis to monitor and support the growth of each mentor-based relationship. Between sessions, mentors are encouraged to make weekly contact via letters, e-mails, phone calls, and in-school lunches and visits. Since it began in 1995, Mentor St. Louis has grown to become one of the largest single volunteer groups working in the school district, thereby providing them with a unique resource to help promote literacy and an appreciation for learning.
Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club is a chartered member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, which is found in 4,000 communities and serves 4.6 million youngsters annually. The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently ranked Boys & Girls Clubs of America as the nation’s top youth organization for the eleventh consecutive year and 12th among all non-profit organizations. Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club is part of a proud tradition of service to our nations’ youth that promotes character and leadership, community and civic involvement, and safety and well-being.
