Boys & Girls Clubs prepares to start work on first middle school center

Every school day, about 750 students finish class at George McGovern Middle School, and unless they’re in after-school activities, many don’t have a structured place to go.

In a building where seven in 10 kids qualify for free and reduced lunch, “so a pretty high-poverty building, they don’t always have a great space to go to after school,” principal Tim Koehler said.

“I think the first thing is just creating a space for them. Boys & Girls Club is a safe space for them to interact with their friends, to get involved in things maybe we can’t offer here at the school and in addition just provide them a lot of information and support in how to be a little better at life.”

While there is Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire programming elsewhere in the city, it can be out of reach for a far west-side student without easy access to transportation.

So when Koehler saw a model in Omaha with a club attached to a middle school, he was sold.

A Boys & Girls Clubs center in the Omaha area attached to a middle school

He shared the experience with Steve Hildebrand, founder and chair of the nonprofit Promising Futures, which began in 2019 with a goal of creating equity for kids in poverty.

“Steve said, ‘Give me your dream,’ and I told him this, and he made it happen,” Koehler said. “We’re very excited. I think the opportunity it’s going to provide to our students is second to none.”

A Boys & Girls Clubs center in the Omaha area attached to a middle school

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire plans to break ground on the donor-funded, 16,000-square-foot club at 11:30 a.m. May 7.

“Every principal will tell you if the kid is engaged in something outside their seven hours of academics, their success in life grows exponentially,” Hildebrand said. “They just need something. A kid could be in football, but for the rest of the year, they don’t have any enrichment.”

The new Boys & Girls Clubs center will include:

• A STEAM classroom for science, technology, engineering, arts and music programming.
•  An innovation lab of up to three classrooms.
• A teaching kitchen.
• A full-sized gymnasium.
• Social spaces.

While programs are still being developed, “they really are tailored to what the students are interested in and excited about and that population and that middle school,” said Stacy Jones, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire.

“We want to make sure it’s educational and fun and gets kids there.”

A Boys & Girls Clubs center in Omaha

The innovation labs are designed to be “incredibly flexible space,” she said. “So anything we can do with innovation we would do in that space, whether it’s art, STEM, esports, podcasting.”

An innovation lab at the Omaha Boys & Girls Clubs

The need for that kind of structured programming after school is high, Koehler said.

“Especially if they’re not interested in the activities we have,” he said. “What (Boys & Girls Clubs) intends to have for their programming is going to be an amazing space for them.”

Rendering by Koch Hazard Architects

The team is holding focus groups with students as they put together the plan for the new building. Feedback has included asking for quiet space to do homework and art, Hildebrand said.

Tutoring and mentoring will be components as well. The building will be designed so it looks considerably different from the rest of the school, he said.

“It’s going to take recruiting to get them to come because they’re going to think this is a continuation of school until they see how much fun kids are having,” Hildebrand said, adding that the depth of poverty at George McGovern is even more significant than the percentage.

“Because of that depth of poverty some of these families are in, kids are going to have nutritious food draw them to come to Boys & Girls Club and that’s a game-changer.”

Koch Hazard Architects

Through a joint-use agreement, the school will be able to use the Boys & Girls Clubs facility during the day for additional gym or program space. Boys & Girls Clubs also will be able to use school spaces such as the cafeteria and library. The school district will own the new building and maintain it, while there’s a long-time licensing agreement with Boys & Girls Clubs to operate it.

Once construction begins this spring, the target is to open for the 2025-26 school year. Programming will be offered weekdays until 8 p.m., including a snack and evening meal, and during the summer for about 12 hours on weekdays with multiple meals.

“I think that’s going to be very high impact for our families to be able to have some summer programming done by an organization as strong as the Boys & Girls Club,” Koehler said. “It’s going to be very beneficial.”

The center is funded entirely by donors, including contributions from the Seed for Success Foundation and philanthropist Denny Sanford. The hope is to keep the program free for families.

“We’re now in the process of raising money for the furnishings, kitchen equipment for the culinary program, STEM equipment for the innovation labs, tables and chairs and office equipment,” Hildebrand said.

For the Boys & Girls Clubs, the George McGovern center represents the next step in growth that has accelerated in recent years.

“We’re serving more kids than we ever had before,” said Jones, who became CEO two years ago.

A move to the Empower Campus in east Sioux Falls has allowed the nonprofit to serve more kids, including an early learning academy and teen program.

As a partner in the Community Learning Center model for school-age care in elementary schools, Boys & Girls Clubs now offers programming in six Sioux Falls elementary schools, as well as four in Brandon and three in Harrisburg. There’s also an early learning academy near 57th Street and Western Avenue in Sioux Falls.

The staff has grown to nearly 300 between full- and part-time employees, with considerable investment into talent attraction and development, Jones said.

“It’s going well,” she said. “I think anybody in town will tell you staff continues to be a challenge, but we’ve added to HR. When I started, we had one (HR employee), and now we have five. Our staff continues to grow because we have to have staff to support those kids.”

The hope is to eventually reach 300 kids daily at George McGovern and potentially expand it to other middle schools, including the future rebuilt Whittier.

“It’s going to be amazing for our kids,” Koehler said. “And hopefully, that just builds the community support to say we need more of them across the city.”