THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB

A Space for Young People

Photo Courtesy of Gary Greenberg

Photo Courtesy of Gary Greenberg

Photo Courtesy of Gary Greenberg

Story by Tara Ryazansky

Photos courtesy of the Gary Greenberg

The Boys and Girls Club has created a space for young people for over 150 years.

“What The Boys and Girls Club is, besides being a safe and enriching, nurturing wonderful place to go to and grow up at, it’s a place where kids can participate in a myriad of programming from education, career development, the arts, the sciences, STEM and so on and so on,” says Executive Director Gary Greenberg. “What we really do is prepare our kids to be productive adults in society. We provide kids with the opportunities that prepare them for their future.”The Boys and Girls Club of Hudson County, which is licensed as a childcare provider, has programs for kids from 4-18 years old, though Greenberg adds that some kids have continued with the club into adulthood by joining the staff .

“It’s a fun environment designed to off er incredible, intriguing, captivating activities,”

Greenberg says, listing photography, videography, visual arts and much more. “And, of course, we have sports. We have nice gymnasiums in our club, so the kids participate in physical recreation every day.”

The Jersey City fl agship clubhouse is located at 225 Morris Blvd. at the Marin Boulevard Light Rail station. The club also serves children at PS 15 and PS 41 and at Marion Gardens.

Every Kid is Eligible

“We’re the youth services provider for the Jersey City Housing Authority. They’re wonderful to partner with. It gives us the opportunity to serve kids we might not ordinarily be able to reach,” Greenberg explains. “We have a clubhouse location in Marion Gardens in a beautiful community center that the housing authority renovated.”

The club provides afterschool transportation to its main location by walking or busing kids from area schools.

“Every kid is eligible. We want to include everybody from every part of the city,” Greenberg says. “It’s a very diverse, eclectic, incredible mosaic. It’s a wonderful thing to see. The wonderful part of it is that kids get to meet each other and grow up with kids from other neighborhoods that they wouldn’t ordinarily meet, in an enriching setting. It’s fantastic, and these kids become friends for life.”

Photo Courtesy of Gary Greenberg

Photo Courtesy of Gary Greenberg

Photo Courtesy of Gary Greenberg

Photo Courtesy of Gary Greenberg

Photo Courtesy of Gary Greenberg

Photo Courtesy of Gary Greenberg

Greenberg says that the variety of activities opens the clubgoers up to things they otherwise might not ever experience, and it’s often surprising how excited they are about these activities.

From Nothing to Oasis

“We have a garden at 95 Morgan St. on the corner of Washington Boulevard,” Greenberg says. “It’s fi lled with vegetables and fruits from corn to watermelon and everything you can possibly think of. It’s in 48 beds that we had volunteers make. These kids were introduced to it when COVID hit because we couldn’t take the kids on fi eld trips because they couldn’t be confi ned in buses. At the time, our kids had no experience with something like farming. They had never done planting. They were not exposed to anything like that. You would think the kids would say, ‘Oh, I’m not doing that.’ But the kids are into it. We transformed a fl at piece of nothing into an oasis.”

The Boys and Girls Club expands kids’ horizons beyond Jersey City. One important initiative brought Boys and Girls Club teens to Trenton.

“It used to be that if you were suicidal or needed urgent care or counseling, you needed to be 18 or above to go and do that on your own. You couldn’t do it without parent consent,” Greenberg says. “Many times, the kids are suff ering, and it might be something due to the parents or the household. The Boys and Girls Club Keystone group campaigned for two years and got support for the legislature down in Trenton. On Christie’s last day as governor, he signed the bill, and it’s called the Boys and Girls Club Keystone Law. It allows kids ages 16 and older to now seek counseling and help. All these years later and it hasn’t gone away. Now, we have support to possibly bring the age lower to 13, which is what we originally wanted.”

The Boys and Girls Club also helps kids apply for college. They have taken trips to visit university campuses in places like Boston and Washington, D.C.

“Your imagination can only take you so far,” Greenberg says. “Unless these kids get to see something like that, how can they dream it? That’s what the Boys and Girls Club is about.” — JCM

Visit bgca.org for more information.