Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego

Changing Lives for Youth In San Diego 

For 80 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego (BGCGSD) has been serving the youth of San Diego County. BGCGSD's mission is to inspire and enable youth to achieve academic success, build good character and responsible citizenship, and make healthy lifestyle choices. 

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego has a service area of over 2,000 square miles in San Diego County with Clubs in many San Diego communities (Clairemont, Encanto, Linda Vista, Logan Heights, and 4S Ranch), as well as the cities of Borrego Springs, Escondido, National City, Poway, Ramona, and Valley Center. 

In a typical year, we provide thousands of youth across San Diego County with a wide variety of enrichment programs, activities, and services in order to transform young people's lives and help them grow to be caring, civic-minded, and successful community members. 

"The Boys & Girls Club provides an invaluable service to our community by supporting and nurturing the youth of San Diego, while providing parents the peace of mind that comes from knowing their children are in a safe place where they can learn and grow." - Richard Shea, Board of Directors Chair 

Supporting Essential Workers 

Over 70% of the children served since the pandemic hit are children of essential workers. This is just one of the many stories. Tracy and Grant are the parents of three children: Hannah, Oliver and Nick.  During the pandemic, both parents continued working tirelessly around the clock, taking small breaks to get rest. Tracy and Grant are first responders, Tracy works as a nurse and Grant is a police officer.  They struggled to find childcare services that were safe and affordable.  Tracey said, "We live in uncertain times and our jobs are uncertain...every day we go to work unaware of what our days will look like.  We needed a place that we could trust and we found the Boys & Girls Club.  The Club gave us security and it's the only certain thing in our lives. Knowing our children are safe gives us the peace of mind we need to keep moving forward."  

Hannah, Oliver and Nick attend the Club on a regular basis and love spending time with their friends.  Nick, age 10 said, "When I'm at the Club, I don't worry about things because I know I'm safe." With so many adults and children experiencing anxiety during these difficult times, the Boys & Girls Club has become the safe haven for families...especially for Tracy and Grant.  

Pivoting to Meet the Community's Needs 

Distance learning has left many children unsupervised and struggling to complete school work on their own. An urgent need evolved for parents of our Members to return to work and have a safe environment for their children to receive assistance with academics, and access to quality activities to enhance their overall wellbeing. 

Our Pathways to Academic and Creative Excellence (PACE) program is available to families from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday - Friday. The Club provides personal work spaces and wifi to all Members who need to attend online classes and complete online homework. In the afternoon, Members are engaged in traditional Club activities. 

Your Support Changes Lives

In the face of uncertainty, you can make certain that the youth of San Diego have a safe place to learn and grow. Together, we provide our members the opportunity to continue learning when schools are closed, enable frontline workers to show up and save lives, and tell children of San Diego that they are not alone. As we look forward to the upcoming school year, we are eager to open all of our doors to the children who need us. There is much work to be done to ensure that our Members are able to reach their full potential academically, physically, and as citizens of our wonderful city. 

In the words of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego President and CEO, Danny Sherlock, "Thank you for providing us with the tools and resources that are essential to our mission. Because of you, in many ways we are stronger than ever."