A new partnership between the
Boys & Girls Clubs of Grand Rapids Youth Commonwealth (BGC-GR),
Grand Rapids Public Schools, and
Dean Transportation makes it possible for more Grand Rapids kids to participate in the BGC-GR's after-school activities.
Kids from three GRPS elementary schools -- Stocking Elementary, Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Academy, and Dickinson Academy-- are now able to board a bus at school to go to a BGC-GR location within one mile of the school, participate in activities, and then take a bus to within two blocks of their homes.
The BGC-GR provides school-aged children after-school homework help, art and music programs, physical activities, and connects them with mentors in the community to provide them opportunities for success. Children ages 12 and under attend from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday; older kids can stay at the centers until 9 p.m. Buses delivering them home follow established GRPS routes to drop-off locations near their homes.
"The problem is that kids can't get to our programming and GRPS is only able to fulfill 20 percent of its need for after-school programming," says BGC-GR Executive Director Rick Huisman. "If kids have to walk to us, there are streets that kids don't want to walk down for many different reasons. So we said, let's find a solution and get the kids to us."
The three BGC-GR locations are located on the southeast and west sides of Grand Rapids.
The cost of both the after-school program and the summer program (from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays during summer months) is just $5 per year, per child.
In 2013, GBC-GR served 2,675 children. Huisman hopes the new transportation options will bring another 30 to 50 children into the program.
"I think that we are all in this together," Huisman says. "I think that this can help Grand Rapids by providing multiple opportunities for success for our kids, and who doesn't want to do everything they can to make that work?"
Writer: Deborah Johnson Wood, Development News Editor
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