Boys & Girls Club of the Suncoast Fights Illiteracy and Crime

According to the Washington Literacy Council, three in five of America’s prison inmates are illiterate, and 68% of those arrested are illiterate. In fact, the link to illiteracy and crime is so strong, that when the state of Arizona figures out how many prison beds they will need, it takes into account how many children in the fourth grade cannot read well. When one realizes that illiterate adults were never taught to read properly as children, it makes the need to reach children at a young age much more urgent.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast will bring back their Summer Reading Camp for a second year to prevent summer learning loss and ensure that kids grow up to have a good future. Working with the Pinellas County School system on the curriculum, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast 2011 Summer Reading Program will make sure children are prepared to go back to school in the fall.

The cost per child is $1,000 for 10 weeks of summer reading. The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast is reaching out to the community for donations to ensure that these children will not grow up to become statistics, but instead become Rhodes Scholars and Presidential Scholars, like other Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast’s alumni.  Numerous studies show that summer learning opportunities improve academic outcomes for youth.  Early and sustained summer learning opportunities lead to higher graduation rates and better preparation for college. 

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast’s 2011 Summer Reading Camp will provide children with a comfortable environment where they can feel encouraged to learn and grow. Before entering the program, children will be tested and placed based on their actual reading level, not their grade.   Results from the 2010 Summer Reading Camp pilot were exceptional with every student increasing their reading skills from their initial pre-test to the programs post-test.

All community partners who want to make a donation or sponsor a child in the Summer Reading Program contact Carla Mattern at (727) 524-2427, x17.

About the Boys & Girls Club of the Suncoast:

The Boys & Girls Clubs of America movement came to Pinellas County in November 1959 with the founding of the Boys Club of Pinellas Park by Police Chief Maurice L. MacTarsney and Margret “Peg” Nunn.  The Club began operating in January 1960 in an old frame building leased from the City of Pinellas Park with its 1st executive director, James S Hart Jr.  The Boys Clubs of Pinellas, Inc. was chartered in August 1967 when its second club opened at the Northside location in St. Petersburg.  In May 1970, at the urging of both the United Way and the Boys Clubs of America, the Boys Clubs of Pinellas County, Inc. was organized.  In 1991, the Boys Clubs of Pinellas County opened its programs to all youth, forming Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast (BGCS), as we know it today, now with eleven locations.  BGCS under the leadership of Carl R. Lavender, Jr. has the goal “to influence the behavior and the attitudes of each individual boy and girl in a wholesome manner.”  The sole purpose of BGCS is to provide children, youth, their families and the community opportunities for safe, structured, well supervised after school and summer youth programs, with an emphasis on leadership, education and self-sufficiency.  The organization has proven its commitment to service for children and community members with innovative and progressive programming and opportunities.  Supporters of Boys & Girls Clubs include government politicians, law enforcement agency representatives, financial institutions, and education boards, among other concerned citizens.  To find out more or to help, visit www.bgcsuncoast.org.