FISD officials identified 80 students—20 from each campus—at Elliott Elementary and Clark, Roach and Scoggins middle schools who could benefit from the Boys & Girls Club program, and the district is offering the program at no cost to families using funds from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief issued to districts as a result of the pandemic.
B&GC has set up a campus club site at Elliott Elementary, while students from the other three schools are bused to the B&GC Frisco location, said Marianne Radley, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Collin County.
Frisco ISD officials said the program will provide additional academic support and after-school care and activities for participating students and families.
The B&GC has three standalone centers—in Frisco, McKinney and Plano—and three campus club sites at elementary schools in Princeton.
Nonprofit staff expect to have a total of 11 clubs, including standalone sites and campus clubs, open by spring 2023, Radley said.
“The in-school sites make a lot of sense for us, because the overhead cost is reduced,” Radley said. “That’s a model we want to continue to expand.”
The clubs’ expansion has sparked a relocation of its headquarters, from Frisco to Allen. The new administrative headquarters is located at 1301 S. Central Expressway in Allen and will be ready the first week of October, Radley said.
“When you’re looking at the corridor of growth where we’re going to be expanding, it really is up on that [US] 75 North,” Radley said. “It gets us to everywhere we need to be pretty quickly, so we can respond quickly to our clubs.”
The organization has served the area since 1968, offering affordable after-school care and summer programs to 4,500 students per year, according to the organization’s website. The $100 monthly membership includes after-school transportation from select schools to area clubs and 90 hours each month of after-school care. Despite the expansion plans in motion, Radley said one of her biggest struggles has been raising funds to propel further growth within the organization. The Collin County branch is the only Boys & Girls Clubs branch nationwide that is located in a major metroplex but does not have an endowment, she said.
“We’re just struggling to get a donor to step forward,” Radley said.
Events like the annual gala are essential to provide funding for the clubs’ operations, she said.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Collin County
1301 S. Central Expressway, Allen (headquarters)
469-888-4620
www.bgccc.org
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m-5 p.m.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a correction and clarifications from Frisco ISD officials. There are no current plans for the Elliott Elementary B&GC site to be opened to all students.
