Funding a positive place for kids

Melanie Poganik loves her job. The 24-year-old teen activities coordinator at the Drake Street Unit of the Henderson Boys & Girls Club enjoys the distinct challenge of keeping at-risk teens interested, occupied and active at the after-school teen center.

Kim Spore, her professional colleague at the Boys & Girls Club, is aware of how difficult that task can be. "Teens are tough," she said. Spore believes teens are at an age when getting through to them and understanding them is a constant struggle.

Boys & Girls Clubs are designed to offer children age 18 and younger a safe and beneficial place to learn, socialize and participate in sports.

"After school kids should not be alone. That's when they get in trouble. If there is no supervision, kids can end up on the streets," said Clyde Caldwell, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Henderson. The 21-year veteran of the organization believes he has a remedy for at-risk teens. "I believe there should be a Boys & Girls Club at every corner, like a 7-Eleven," he said. "There's a ton of kids out there that need help."

In Henderson, the John Kish Unit can see 400 to 500 kids go through the door daily. They have 4,000 members in five units and a teen center.

"Some of the kids walk through drug dealing and violence just to get to their house. Many don't know how to express their anger, their feelings," Poganik said.

"Every teen has at least one thing in common. They are trying to find who they are. Along the way they have choices, we offer them a positive way of doing things," she said.

A positive model is what the Boys & Girls Clubs of Henderson and Las Vegas are about. Through membership to the club, teens have opportunities to improve their educational experience with homework assistance and access to computers; broaden their value as an employee through job skill programs; expand their understanding of their changing teen emotions and how to manage them; and expose themselves to a multicultural environment with tolerance. Tall order, but one the local Boys & Girls Clubs aim for daily.

The two separate organizations, with different boards of directors and leadership, are under the auspices of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. To wit, they follow the motto, "The Positive Place for Kids."

Teens are a particular challenge to youth organizations. The tough exterior of an adult can hide a truly confused adolescent.

"Often in our society a child turns 13 and nobody cares about him or her. Teens need so much. They need support, love, positive feedback and boundaries," Poganik said.

In the Boys & Girls Clubs of Henderson, they see the results of their caring for the children. The teens that come frequently "go through every triumph and failure together," Spore said.

Failure is possible for many of the at-risk teens that go through the doors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Las Vegas. Most of the centers are in neighborhoods that also offer plenty of opportunity for making bad decisions. Drugs, alcohol, school drop-out, teen pregnancy and gang violence are a constant presence.

"Many people in our community don't realize the plight of our children," said Debbie Verges, president of the Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas. "Because of the areas we are in, the Boys & Girls Club is their (the child's) primary access to services and support," she adds. "Eleven of our 12 facilities are in cities," she explains. In Las Vegas, membership to the Boys & Girls Club is about 12,000 children.

Jackie Valdera was one of those children in a high-risk neighborhood when she was 8. Now at 21, she is the technology director of the University Club Unit of Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas. Along the way she has had many successes she attributes to her membership. She belonged to the Torch Club, a leadership group for 10- to 12-year-olds, and later the Keystone Club leadership group for 14- to 18-year-olds. She also believes her experience with the Toastmasters group improved her public speaking, all of which helped when she was nominated for the Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year.

"We had interviews at the Governor's mansion, and I won Nevada Youth of the Year," said Valdera, currently a business management major at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The year she won, Oprah Winfrey was doing fund-raising for the Angel's Network with major donations from Garth Brooks. A $25,000 grant was awarded to each state winner for three years (1998, 1999, 2000.) Those dollars are funding Valdera's education right now. "I would like to give back to the Boys & Girls Club somehow, after I finish my MBA," adds Valdera.

Stories like Valdera's are what the United Way's "Strengthening Youth and Family" funding category is all about. The United Way of Southern Nevada provides funding to local nonprofits that have earned accreditation for their programs. Organizations like the Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas are funded after submitting individual programs for consideration. "The United Way contributes about 12 percent of our budget," Verges said.

Valdera's views of the Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas are clear. "They gave me a safe and happy childhood," she said. For a young woman, originally from 28th and Stewart streets area of the city where gang activity was common, that was all she needed to get ahead.