Update on Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley’s Strategic Direction

“We say in our organization we want every kid to reach their full potential,”said Bart McFadden, President and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley. “We also want every dollar to reach full potential and it’s impact to kids so that’s what this will do.”

The mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley, “to inspire and enable all young people, especially those that need us most, to reach their full potential as responsible, productive, caring citizens,” compels our organization to respond to the needs of kids across our region. Therefore, the Board of Directors has chosen to further our strategy of placing our people and programs in much closer proximity to where young people live and go to school daily. As part of this strategy, BGCTNV is entering into a lease purchase agreement with Knoxville Prep for our facility located at 957 and 967 Irwin Street. This agreement will serve as a catalyst over the next several years to serve more young people in more effective and efficient ways across our 5 county region.

Here are some key considerations and facts that drive this strategy and decision for our organization:

1. The need for our services is at an all-time high, as well as the costs to deliver our services. More than 2,500 kids served in August alone with several Clubs with waiting lists.
2. BGCTNV is working to implement a service delivery model that makes our Clubs more effective and efficient. 1) This transaction will allow BGCTNV to reduce transportation costs, facility maintenance costs, utility costs and invest more dollars in our most meaningful assets, our people and programs. 2) This will also help increase our daily programming time for many members which is lost due to transportation.
3. This new model will allow us to serve more kids daily and annually, as our cost per child will decrease.
4. BGCTNV will continue to serve K-12 students for the 2023-24, 24-25, and 25-26 school years in the Regal and Haslam buildings.
5. We are working with KCS, the City of Knoxville, and other local school districts to identify new school based and shared space opportunities to serve more kids at a lower cost per child, which will provide for higher quality programming and greater sustainability.
6. BGCTNV plans to have a long-term agreement with Knox Prep to continue providing after school programming in the Regal facility for their middle and high school students, along with students from other local middle and high schools.

👉Additional updates and news will be made available online at https://bgctnv.org/staging/5440/future