VISTA Members
Jose Armendariz & Clare Fogerty
Boys & Girls Club Santa Monica
(narrative by Jose and video by Clare)
The
Boys and Girls Club of Mar Vista is an awe-inspiring place, and a perfect
representation of the expression ‘do not judge a book by its cover’. The first
impression you get from the club is deceitful because the disorganized
environment that can be perceived as chaotic, is not the overall reality. Yes,
children could be running loose, constantly chasing each other, or engaging in
illicit behavior and discourse such as fighting and cursing. However, once you
become part of this club, one is able to see its greatness. All of the members
who attend the Boys and Girls Club of Mar Vista feel appreciated due to the
varieties of activities and special events that they have been part of. Also,
most of the staff are native to the community of Mar Vista Gardens, so they are
able to empathize with member’s life experience and their necessities,
emotional or financial. Therefore, the lack of structure this unique Boys and
Girls Club experience is only a tiny glitch in comparison of all the
achievements accomplished with its members and the community as a whole. We as
VISTA’s have taken the responsibility to solve some of the structural problems
the club face in order to improve children’s behavior towards education and
responsibility. Our main achievements have been an incentive point program that
is intertwine with our nascent tutoring program, in addition we have been able
to get involved with community partnerships, and parent engagement into the
club.
One
of our main goals is to create a tutoring program, we have adhered to the task
by combining it with a point incentive program to motivate children to do their
homework. In order to start the tutoring program we had to find volunteers, which
has been a difficult task due to the scarce resources we have been given.
Nevertheless, we were able to create a partnership with the non-profit, West LA
Family Source, whom will be providing us with tutors. Also, they gave us a
valuable testing tool. Most of the club members have been tested with the STAR
(California standardized test) exam, which depicted what areas each member
needed to improve in Math or English. But, we did not want to wait until the
tutoring program started for our members to be improving their grades at school.
So, we created an incentive point programs. This program had a positive result
since children are actually doing their homework, engaging in educational
activities, and browsing through academic websites. If the club members earn
points, they can exchange them for prices each Friday. Children pile up in line
eagerly every Friday to obtain a prize, of which there is a broad range of
selection. So, we have been able to improve their educational habits.
We
have also engaged the parents into the club by creating an open house for the parents
to attend, along with a parent meeting. The Boys and Girls Club we are located
has not been able to create a sustainable relationship with member’s parents.
But, we have been able to expand communication through the events we created
for them. The open house demonstrated the daily activities their children
engage in. The parent meeting we organized, it was necessary to introduce a new
program Be Great Graduate. To organize this parent meeting, we created flyers,
went to families houses, and called the parents. All of this events have been a
great opportunity to introduce ourselves, what we want to do, and listen to
their ideas and expectations.
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