Boys and Girls Clubs of the Valley share new impact report

The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Valley has released a report on its impact on youth and working families. Research for this report was conducted by ASU’s L. William Seidman Institute.

Marcia Mintz, President and CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of the Valley, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the report.

According to the report, 95% of teens involved with Boys and Girls Clubs are estimated to graduate from high school, which is about 10% higher than the average across the 12 school districts served by the organization. The Clubs’ academic support, mentoring and enrichment programs are closing the opportunity gap among under-resourced families in the Valley.

“What this really means economically is that this is a $15,000,000 lifetime earning increase for that 10 percent more that’s graduating,” Mintz said.

Mintz said the Clubs’ innovative Whole Child Approach Program is addressing the youth mental health crisis head-on with Terros Health coaches in each club and tools to tackle depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and other pressing issues.

“It’s about academic success, its about healthy lifestyles, its about character leadership and its also about life and workforce readiness… just being physical reduces childhood obesity by 15%,” Mintz said. “People forget that the hours from 3-7 PM are the most critical hours for youth. And most of our club kids are in our clubs 100 hours more a year than they are in K-12. So first of all they’re in a safe place after school, they have caring adults, mentors but they have really high quality evidence based programs that they’re doing from 3-7 PM.”s

Mintz explained for every $1 invested in Club operations in fiscal 2024 and 2025, $14.79 in benefits were generated, totaling $398.5 million in socio-economic value.