A good that creates generational difference

We’re proud to be able to help support Boys & Girls Club of the Heartland as our Difference Makers charity this year.

We want to thank everyone who supported the Difference Makers campaign this year to make the donation possible.

While the $7,600 raised is a fraction of the $4 million already designated for the new regional teen center the club plans to open in 2026, it is donations like this which will help get the project across the finish line.

Every gift, no matter, the size, will go toward making the lives of youth in our community better.

The club started small, serving as an after-school option for a couple dozen students at a re-purposed building on the east side.

But the vision for what it could be has always been large.

They’ve accomplished many of the original goals, and now are moving onto an even greater mission.

Boys & Girls Club has always provided after-school support, including a meal, help with homework and enrichment activities. They are a long-standing partner of Poplar Bluff schools for this effort and have reached out to bring other neighboring districts under their umbrella.

They have expanded offerings to generate more interest from teen members, and now provide free access to college classes and workforce training through a partnership with Three Rivers College.

The regional teen center seeks to expand these offerings to 26 districts that fall within a 45-minute drive of Poplar Bluff.

A 2021 needs assessment for Boys & Girls Club found, “The impacts of poverty and the lack of access to positive youth development and academic enrichment programs out of the school day place students at risk of long-term academic failure and are a missed opportunity to bolster the protective factors being developed inside of the school day at the early elementary level.”

The study goes on to share elementary students in the area are largely performing at grade level academically, but that drops off as students get older. Students with additional challenges face even more struggles with staying at grade level.

“The BGC program is designed to support these disparities and the district’s goal (of proficient students) by targeting students at greatest need, providing differentiated instructional supports within a comprehensive youth development program model,” the study reports.

This is the type of program that can create generational change in an area that sees some of the highest poverty rates in the state.

By providing free access to higher education, they are setting students on a path that could change the trajectory of entire families.

Efforts like this, both large and small, are what Difference Makers is all about.

We want to thank everyone for allowing us to be a part of creating positive change for our region, and for all of your efforts to do the same.