New Boys & Girls Club partnership launches at River Valley
Helping to fill the gap in childcare in Marion County, a new partnership between the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Ohio and River Valley has launched to open a new before-and-afterschool program at Heritage Elementary.
In what Boys & Girls Club of Marion County Area Director Maggie Breeding described as a "whirlwind," conversations regarding the new partnership began in January this year. By the end of May, both organization's boards had approved the partnership.
This new Boys & Girls Club location at Heritage Elementary is the second in Marion County along with the organization's Oak Street Club at located at 565 Oak Street just north of downtown Marion. Among the five Boys & Girls Club locations in Columbus, and one in Newark, the Oak Street site is the largest, serving students in grades K-12 primarily enrolled in Marion City Schools.
Breeding explained the programming at the new site will be consistent with that of the Oak Street location, but one main difference is that Heritage will have childcare both before and afterschool for the 71 students enrolled as of Wednesday: operating from 6:30 to 9 a.m. and 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.
As of Wednesday, the Heritage location is fully staffed and ready to take on the remainder of the school year. Breeding said the team was primarily hired internally, providing opportunities for her staff members at Oak Street to get excited to launch something new and increase their hours.
Site Lead Jen Hartman worked for the Boys & Girls Club of Marion County for about a year-and-a-half at Oak Street before being promoted to oversee the location at River Valley. She also worked for the organization for a year in 2018 before accepting a position at Marion City Schools' George Washington Elementary as a 1:1 Aide for students with autism.
“The kids are great. The parents are really amazing and patient with us while getting the new program going. The kids have fun. They’re all happy when they come in so early in the morning as well with a smile on their faces. I also think they build friendships between the schools, because we have another school that is here as well,” Hartman said.
In the morning, the program offers the students time to wake up with activities including board games, drawing and building stations. In the afternoon, there is daily quiet time for homework and reading. The club also has access to the music and art rooms, the gym and the playground for its before and afterschool activities.
River Valley Superintendent Adam Wickham said the district is excited to have both before and afterschool childcare options for parents and students, noting he thought the Boys & Girls Club of Marion County has done a "fantastic" job thus far in providing this service.
"The Boys & Girls Club has stepped up to provide a great program, with excellent site management, as well as with full staffing," Wickham said.
"Like most childcare or daycare locations, we struggled the past two years to find adequate staffing so we have been very pleased with the BGC coming in to provide a great option for our families."
After the COVID-19 pandemic brought a childcare crisis to the county, Breeding said both her team and the district staff saw an opportunity to open a new site in Marion County and help fill this need.
“Of course during the pandemic and so forth many childcare centers in Marion County were forced to close and childcare is an ongoing issue in Marion with these changes that have occurred, so the district actually came to us and asked us to partner so that was a really nice opportunity,” Breeding said.
Programming priorities of the Boys & Girls Club include academic success, healthy lifestyles, social-emotional learning and good character and leadership.
Wickham said these values, along with the organization being able to launch the new partnership onsite, were what drew the district to the organization.
"We were looking for a provider who could implement strong programming in academic support and Social Emotional Learning," the superintendent said.
"Another significant requirement was the need to bring this service back onto our campus in order to alleviate the challenge of transporting students (especially with bus driver shortages) from an offsite location."
In a collaborative effort, the Boys and Girls Club opened its doors and provided its staffing, and River Valley provided the transportation for students who attend Liberty Elementary so they could also be included in the program. This allows parents to drop off and pick up students at Heritage regardless of what school they attend, and the district has a bus to-and-from Liberty for the school day.
Moving forward, the team hopes to expand the partnership to have a location at each school for the convenience of families.
“Overall it’s been a privilege to be able to serve more kids in Marion County. The county needs it, the school districts. We can see it all over the central Ohio region that school districts are in need of affordable childcare for families, so we’re really looking forward to it, and we’re hoping in the next year or so we’ll have two sites at River Valley: one at Liberty and one at Heritage,” Breeding said.
Breeding and Wickham both noted that in the first month of the new location, they have been receiving positive feedback from district caregivers. Hartman said her favorite part of the job so far has been watching her staff gain the trust of the community to take care of the students.
"We've had an overwhelming response from parents utilizing the service and the hours of operation are extremely convenient for those who work or have longer commute times," Wickham said.
Spots are still available for River Valley elementary students in the afternoon. The before-school program is currently full and has a waitlist. For more information, visit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Ohio's website for Marion County locations.
Story by: Sophia Veneziano (740) 564 - 5243 ∣ sveneziano@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: New Boys & Girls Club partnership launches at River Valley
