Staking A Claim

Boys & Girls Clubs are providing positive alternatives for youth in other Native American communities, too. In Alaska, the Tyonek Boys & Girls Club has helped restore an interest in native culture, fishing and conservation. In South Dakota, the newly remodeled, 30,000-square foot SuAnne Big Crow Boys & Girls Club is helping combat suicide, drug addiction and unemployment in a community described as America’s “ground zero of poverty.” Celebrating a milestone, the Boys & Girls Club of Kayenta, Ariz., was recently recognized as the honorary 100th Club on Native American lands, demonstrating the growth and ongoing need for more Clubs on Indian territory.

Kids aren’t the only ones changed by Boys & Girls Clubs. Communities also benefit. According to Oklahoma officials, the number of juvenile-offense referrals has dropped by more than 27 percent in Green Country since our first Club opened four years ago, and in 2000, the number of repeat offenders in our youth court was zero! Community leaders credit Boys & Girls Clubs as one primary catalyst for this improvement, including a local principal who also attributes her school’s increase in achievement scores to the Club’s Power Hour program.

Our community members, often divided by politics, have even come together to hold a citywide election, voting together to build and sustain a new $6 million community recreation center with facilities for our central Club. In light of the funding challenges faced by many rural and reservation-based Clubs, this kind of cooperative spirit is critical to our continued success. Despite the many obstacles Native American children face, Boys & Girls Clubs are giving these young people reason to feel proud. The results speak for themselves.

For more information on Native American Clubs, visit www.naclubs.org or
call (866) NACLUBS.