For 50 years, the Boys & Girls Club of Dorchester (BGCD) has been a staple in the community acting as a home away from home for many children and teens, especially during the city’s hot summer months. At the end of each June— when the schools close for the season—it’s the BGCD’s three club houses that swing open from morning to night inviting thousands of city kids and teens to engage in life-enhancing and life-changing experiences. 

Once people join the BGCD family, they’re likely to be in it forever. Members often become staff who eventually enroll children of their own as members. 

Fifteen-year-old Fatoumata is living proof of that cycle.

Video by Connor Nee for the Dorchester Reporter
 
“I started when I was nine,” said Fatoumata. “Being a member here is so magical. That’s how I can describe it honestly. When I think of my childhood, I think of the Boys and Girls Club.” 

This summer, Fatoumata transitioned from clubhouse member to a part of the summer camp staff at the Walter Denney Youth Center on Dorchester’s Columbia Point. It’s something she has dreamed of for years. 

 “I’ve always wanted to be a staff since I was a kid. I used to have shirts that said, ‘mini-staff’ on the back when I was younger,” said the high school student. “The staff were my role models and now I get to be someone else’s role model.”

Fatoumata, who worked with kids ages five to seven this summer, leads her younger neighbors through a non-stop schedule of indoor and outdoor fun, including field trips to amusement parks, roller rinks, and the beach.

During the last week of camp alone she got to battle with the campers in color wars, enjoy a carnival-themed afternoon full of popcorn and snow cones, and help distribute brand-new back-to-school backpacks to each child. 

“My shift starts at 12 and I walk through the door and go ahead and check in and then I walk to my group, and they all run and give me big hugs. It’s the cutest thing,” she says.

As a camper, Fatoumata knew the BGCD was a special place but as a staff member, she sees the effect it has on the entire neighborhood.

“The Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester has a huge impact on my life and the life of everyone else in the community. It’s like a safe haven where you can go and be yourself, where you can meet other people who are like you. It’s just a place to go to have fun, to be who you are, and explore different things.”

Her favorite memories with the club include horseback riding for the very first time, going to Disney World, and attending the annual trip to Camp Northbound, a week-long camp in Bridgton, Maine— in which 250 Dorchester kids get to spend a week together with their friends. The Northbound experience has become a treasured summer-ending celebration for the club and its staff, several of whom have been leading the club for decades.

One of those leaders is Queenette Santos, the BGCD’s vice president of youth and community engagement. Santos signed up her own children as members almost 35 years ago. While she started as just another club parent, she quickly became a part of the staff. This fall Santos will begin her third decade of work with the club hoping to connect other children to the resources her own kids benefited from.

“This summer we were close to 100 kids here at this location, but we probably served around 1,000 in all three of our locations during the summer,” Santos told The Reporter during a recent visit to the Denney. 

Campers at the Denney spent the last Wednesday of camp enjoying a carnival-themed afternoon including getting to pie each other in the face. Cassidy McNeeley photos

Just a mile and a half from the Denney are the Marr and McLaughlin Clubhouses, both of which fill with hundreds of campers daily. Participants at the two sites— just off Dorchester Avenue near Savin Hill—move between buildings for programs that include swimming, gym, music and art lessons, computer training, and lunch.

While the McLaughlin has a colorful art room and music center, the Marr is home to the Zen Den, swimming pool, and Planet Fitness Gym. During the day these spaces are ruled by the youth campers up to age 13. In the evening, the Marr Clubhouse becomes a sanctuary for teens through Safe Summer Streets, a nighttime program established in 1990. 

Senior vice president of operations Mike Joyce has been there since the beginning. He and the club’s longtime president and CEO, Bob Scannell, devised Safe Summer Streets —in part— as a response to that year’s record violence in Boston’s neighborhoods.

“[Back in 1990] there was a high degree of homicides in the city and when we had a 9 to 5 schedule [kids] would be out here when the club closed waiting to see if Bob and I would let them come in and play basketball and we did,” said Joyce. “We would stay late and do the paperwork we needed to and tell them to behave themselves and they did. It just kind of opened up our eyes to the fact that these kids want somewhere to go in the evening in the summertime. Not just the younger kids, but the older kids.”

Before being coated in neon powder during the Color Wars, campers on the Patriots performed their own version of Kendrick Lamar’s, “Not Like Us.”

Children ranging from ages 7-9 were nicknamed the Red Sox for the last week of camp.

Duke (Navy) took home the 15U championship title in the Safe Summer Streets Basketball League.

Safe Summer Streets has been a staple of the BGCD’s programming ever since— offering teens a place to relax, spend time with friends, and engage in safe, structured activities all summer long. 

Many of the teens in the program are staff members at the club by day.

“Ideally our goal is to keep them employed during the day and then offer them a recreational opportunity at night,” Joyce explained. “The younger kids have the daytime; the teens have the night.”

Willy, 16, is one of many who does just that. During the day he works with the nine-year-olds at the Marr and in the evening, he returns to the club for Safe Summer Streets, which includes a competitive basketball league in the Marr building’s gymnasium. 
“The club is somewhere they can go to make sure they’re not doing something outside,” says Willy. “It changes their focus to something more productive.”

JB Clarance runs the basketball league, which this summer included ten teams in two divisions. The intermediate division included four teams of 13 to 15-year-olds while the senior division fielded six teams of 16 to 18-year-olds. This summer, games were played from July 8 through August 8. Magic (Blue) won the 18U division while Duke (Navy) took home the 15U championship title.  

“This league is so important because it gives kids structure and a safe environment,” said Clarence. “Without the structure of school, there is a lot of opportunity to do good and a lot of opportunity to make poor decisions. We give the kids a structure and a place to feel safe and have fun.”

After the athletes finish up on the court, many hang around for more activities led by teen director Declan Hall, a 23-year-old Dot native who started working at BGCD in high school.

“The kids are the driving force. I enjoy working with them,” said Hall. “They help me navigate through life, especially during my transition into being in my twenties.”

When working with the teens, Hall says, it’s important to remember that they still “love the little kid stuff,” which is why he encourages them to play games, participate in water balloon fights, and compete in cake wars. 

“[Safe Summer Streets] is just a great opportunity for teens to have the space to play and have fun,” Hall told The Reporter. “A thing that gets lost is we forget teens want to have fun. They can be distant, stand-offish, but give them a little bit of push and they definitely enjoy what we do here. I see it all the time.” 

Queenie Santos agrees. “The teens are a very delicate age. When you become a teenager, you can be anywhere you want to be. We want to make sure that all teens are safe and that they’re getting supervision when their parents are at work. You want to give them growth opportunities, for education, some type of recreation, and community service. We want to build them up to be productive in their communities, homes, and schools.” 

At the end of the night, when the teens are ready to go home, the club offers transportation services. “We have two vans, we give rides home at 8 p.m., 9 p.m., and 10 p.m.,” said Chad Hassey, the director of Teen Programming and Development. “There are two vans for each one of those rides. The 8 p.m. is kind of slow but the 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. are always jam-packed. We go to South Boston, Hyde Park, Roxbury, Mattapan, all over.” 

As a former club kid, Hassey knows these rides make all the difference in the world. “When I was a teen I was here from nine in the morning until 11 at night and I got rides home,” he said. “It’s very important, that’s how we get the teens to come in.”

Hassey is another example of the “club kid-turned-staff” that is a prominent feature of the BGCD experience.

Chad Hassey said, “The Teens Rising Up program is a great program. From the end of June to August 9th they learn about healthy lifestyles, financial literacy, and character, just getting them ready for the real world as 14 and 15-year-olds. Seeing them grow throughout the summer is my favorite thing.”

“The staff who work here, stay,” said Hassey. “There are so many people who have been here for 20-plus years. A lot of the directors here are former members, alumni, they love what they do, they are from the community, and they want to see the kids they are serving now become better adults.”

This summer, in addition to marking their 50th anniversary, the BGCD is also gearing up for the anticipated groundbreaking of a new, $70 million state-of the-art indoor facility on Mount Vernon Street, close to the current site of the Denney clubhouse. The Fieldhouse + – as it will be called— has prompted the largest capital fundraising campaign in the BGCD’s history.

“We’re excited about the fieldhouse, “said Mike Joyce. “That’s going to be a facility that could really fit our other three buildings in it. It’s a good size, the programming dynamic will be different. We can see what we can do with a space like that while continuing to operate the other three sites,” said Joyce, who has worked with the club for 45 years. 

He added: “I’m looking forward to that. It’s a new challenge, it’s exciting. That’s one thing about the club. Every day is a little different and the challenges can be a little different, too.”