Westwood and Melrose high schools are among 10 Shelby County Schools that will open their own Boys & Girls Clubs by the end of February. 

Students in these clubs will learn life skills to help them reach their full potential, learning about healthy choices, character development, education and leadership, athletics and the arts. 

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“First and foremost, we want to provide a safe environment for these kids to go to after school and during the summer,” said Keith Blanchard, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis. “But we also want to assist the schools and the teachers with academic performance and graduation rates and those types of things.”

Melrose High will open its club Thursday, Jan. 20, followed by the Westwood club opening Monday, Jan. 24. 

Other schools getting their own Boys & Girls Clubs are Booker T. Washington Middle School and Hamilton, Manassas, Oakhaven, Sheffield, Trezevant, Wooddale and Raleigh-Egypt high schools. 

The new clubs were made possible by $9 million in federal funding approved by the Memphis City Council in 2021. For each of the next three years, $3 million will be allocated to the 10 schools, giving each about $300,000 annually.

A majority of that funding will cover staff salaries. Each location will have one full-time program director, a full-time club director and several part-time staff members. 

“Also, we’re trying to set up these environments that will be attractive to the kids, and they’ll want to come,” Blanchard said. “So, eventually, we hope to purchase some new furniture and computers. We’re raising money to do that now. The main thing is to get in there, get established, get our kids signed up, introduce the programs, and then start developing the partnership.”

The new clubs will be modeled after the Craigmont High School club, which has operated about four years. Although around 400 students are signed up for Craigmont’s club, daily attendance is around 150. 

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All 10 of the new clubs are currently enrolling students. Blanchard anticipates each club will average around 40-50 students per day in the beginning and reach about 100-150 once the clubs are more established. 

Students will not have to pay any membership dues. 

According to data on the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Memphis’ website, 100% of seniors participating in the club’s programs in 2019 graduated high school on time with a plan for the future. In the last four years, everyone who participated in BGCM’s Juice Plus+ Technical Training Center was placed in a job or a college. 

Club leaders and staff members of the new clubs have spent the last four years training through online and hands-on formats and by shadowing workers at Craigmont and other locations. 

Jason Sharif will serve as the club director for the Westwood club. Sharif, who has worked with children for decades, is from nearby Whitehaven and said he is looking forward to helping bring the opportunities closer to the children of those communities. 

“I’ve talked to a lot of adults in the community who expressed to me that when they were growing up, they were able to attend Boys & Girls Clubs in other parts of the city,” Sharif said. “But they said we never had one in Westwood. And just to bring one to Westwood, it’ll be a great place for the kids to have a safe haven to go to for the learning experience, to meet new friends and basically just give them an opportunity to be involved with something positive.”

Currently, 20 students are enrolled in Westwood High’s club, and the team hopes to enroll 20 more by the end of the week.

The BGCM students at Westwood will get together for after- school programs in two dedicated classrooms and may also utilize the school’s gymnasium, cafeteria and auditorium. 

There, students will learn to become leaders, take part in service learning, learn their way around a kitchen, play sports, do homework and more. 

Some programs, like the music programs, may be tailor-suited to locations depending on what facilities are available. For example, some schools, like Westwood, will emphasize music programs due to their access to a music room. 

Students from other locations who are interested in participating in music programs may be bussed to the music headquarters at the Ira Samelson Jr. Club. 

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There will also be a heavy emphasis on job readiness and workforce development. Students will have the opportunity to take advantage of the Juice Plus+ Technical Training Center at 903 Walker Ave., where they can choose from career tracks in logistics, automotive, culinary, welding, and IT. They will also learn soft skills needed to enter the workforce, money management, computer skills and personal goal setting. 

Some schools may already have vocational classrooms, so students at those locations can participate in some workforce development programs without leaving their home base. 

James Moore, vice president of workforce development, said it is important to provide these programs to students in communities where there are limited opportunities and where it may be easier to fall into a life of crime. 

“The reason we want to do this is that we want to give kids something positive to do in an after-school setting,” Moore said. “And we felt like that these schools that we are targeting have limited opportunities for kids to get involved in improving themselves. … We just want to give kids an opportunity to want to have fun to learn more about themselves, but to further their personal growth and development and to be able to come up with a plan for the future.”