Frisco | October 2022

EDUCATION

Boys & Girls Clubs of Collin County supports growth with new Frisco ISD partnership

cost is reduced,” Radley said. “That’s a model we want to continue to expand.” The clubs’ expansion has sparked a relocation of its headquarters, from Frisco to Allen. The new administrative headquarters is located at 1301 S. Central Expressway in Allen and will be ready the rst week of October, Radley said. “When you’re looking at the corridor of growth where we’re going to be expanding, it really is up on that [US] 75 North,” Radley said. “It gets us to everywhere we need to be pretty quickly, so we can respond quickly to our clubs.” The organization has served the area since 1968, oering aordable after- school care and summer programs to 4,500 students per year, according to the organization’s website. The $100 monthly membership includes after-school transportation from select schools to area clubs and 90 hours each month of after-school care. Despite the expansion plans in motion, Radley said one of her biggest struggles has been raising funds to propel further growth within the organization. The Collin County branch is the only Boys & Girls Clubs branch nationwide that is located in a major metroplex but does not have an endowment, she said. “We’re just struggling to get a donor to step forward,” Radley said. Events like the annual gala are essential to provide funding for the clubs’ operations, she said.

BY SHELBIE HAMILTON

Boys & Girls Clubs of Collin County partnered earlier this year with Frisco ISD to oer after-school care and a campus club site for four local schools. FISD ocials identied 80 stu- dents—20 from each campus—at Elliott Elementary and Clark, Roach and Scog- gins middle schools who could benet from the Boys & Girls Club program, and the district is subsidizing the cost of attendance. B&GC has set up a campus club site at Elliott Elementary, while students from the other three schools are bused to the B&GC Frisco location. Frisco ISD was “seeing a fall o in some of their [State of Texas Assess- ments of Academic Readiness] test scores” from some students, said Marianne Radley, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Collin County, which led to the partnership with the four schools. In January, the Elliott B&GC campus club site will be opened to the rest of the school’s students, Radley said, and the organization will continue to develop a partnership with FISD. The B&GC has three standalone centers—in Frisco, McKinney and Plano—and three campus club sites at elementary schools in Princeton. Nonprot sta expect to have a total of 11 clubs, including standalone sites and campus clubs, open by spring 2023, Radley said. “The in-school sites make a lot of sense for us, because the overhead

Boys & Girls Clubs of Collin County has three campus clubs at Princeton ISD elementary schools. (Photos courtesy Boys & Girls Clubs of Collin County)

Boys & Girls Clubs of Collin County opened its Elliott Elementary Club in October.

A location at a McKinney activity center should open in mid-November.

SAVE THE DATE TO FUNDRAISE This year’s theme, “Enchanted Masquerade,” encourages donors to “unmask childhood disparities,” according to the gala website.

The gala aims to earn 50% of operation costs for the rst half of the following year. 50%

The club will have its annual fundraiser gala at the Frisco Embassy Suites Hotel. Oct. 15

Boys & Girls Clubs of Collin County 1301 S. Central Expressway, Allen (headquarters) 469-888-4620 www.bgccc.org Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m-5 p.m.

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ALLEN

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FRISCO EDITION • OCTOBER 2022