Having trouble seeing this message? View it online.

JANUARY 2013

Kids Line Up for 'Club 105'

Site ADA Change During Recognition Program

More than 80% of BGC of the Tennessee Valley's Club sites saw a boost in ADA after implementing a new recognition program for frequent attendees.

In 2008, a national study by Public/Private Ventures found that young people who attended a Boys & Girls Club at least 104 times per year achieved significantly greater outcomes than other youth.

When Club President and CEO Lisa Hurst tracked more than 2,000 former members of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley for her dissertation research, she discovered a similar "tipping point" at 105 annual visits. Former members who reached this mark were more than twice as likely as their peers to have graduated from high school.

With the effect of frequent attendance so clear, Tennessee Valley Club leaders decided to hone in on this strategy to increase their Clubs' average daily attendance. To that end, Hurst and her team developed a fun, dynamic recognition program, "Club 105," for frequent attendees. After just one six-month cycle, the organization's 14 Clubs had collectively grown ADA by 100, to 1,230 youth per day.

Here's Lisa Hurst, along with Vice President of Operations Markus Jackson and Area Director Josh Yarbrough, with more on the program.

Q:	How does Club 105 work?
A:	When a Club member has attended 105 times, he or she becomes a member of Club 105. We launched the program last July, and we're about to have our first big recognition party for Club 105 members from all our units.
Q:	Why the name "Club 105"?
A:	For one thing, it speaks directly to the number of annual Club visits that we know make a difference in kids' lives. For another thing, we wanted the program to be something fun, that the kids would aspire to, so we gave it the name and created a logo. The logo will go on the T-shirts and other incentive items. We're even going to create special, color-coded membership cards.
Q:	What are the other benefits and incentives?
A:	We're still working on the details, but other rewards will include free field trips and late nights at the Club. We're also going to offer incentives for parents, such as reduced fees and periodic "parents' nights out."
Q:	How is Club 105 funded?
A:	Club Blue, a local networking group of young professionals that supports our organization, is donating all the funds for the parties and recognition items. That's another way that giving the program a fun, recognizable name helped us. In addition to being able to provide such compelling proof for the impact of frequent attendance, we also have a discrete program, with its own identity.
Q:	Why does the program run in six-month cycles?
A:	We recognize that, to some extent, membership is seasonal. Not all of our members will come to the Club all year — some will attend in the summer, some during the school year, and others when they're not participating in after-school sports. But we want all of our members to come to the Club often enough to achieve better outcomes. This year, we're also planning smaller celebrations for kids who've attended 52 times by the midpoint in each six-month cycle, to encourage them to keep working toward the big goal.
Q:	How has participating in BGCA's National Youth Outcomes Initiative helped?
A:	Using our dashboards from the National Youth Outcomes Initiative, we can easily look at the attendance numbers across all our units each quarter. We do fun things to recognize the units that have the most Club 105 members, which creates friendly competition among our Clubs. (Learn more and sign up for the National Youth Outcomes Initiative at http://bgca.net/formulaforimpact/measurement.aspx.)
Q:	How have your staff members responded to the program?
A:	It's really been a staff-driven program from the beginning. Our staff participated on the committee that created Club 105, and having the right people in place has been critical to making it work. We talk with Club professionals about the importance of making personal connections with the kids, because it's those relationships that keep kids coming back. In addition, our performance accountabilities now include the number of youth who reach Club 105.
Q:	Is it working?
A:	Yes, the numbers show that it is. During the first six months of the program, we had 291 kids who attended at least 105 days. Since the program launched, we've added 179 new members across the organization and increased ADA by 100. Generally, Clubs expect to serve about one-quarter of their membership each day. If you're not increasing frequency of attendance, you would need to add 400 new memberships to achieve an ADA boost of 100.

Questions about increasing ADA? Contact Lorene Jackson, Vice President, Program & Youth Development Services (Operations & Strategy) at ljackson@bgca.org.

Thank you for all you do on behalf of our youth!

{OPENEDEMAILMARKER}