The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Kalamazoo is raising money for a new, state-of-the-art Club and headquarters. The new building will replace the old location, which was attached to Edison Elementary School and was demolished in August in order to build a new school.
Fundraising efforts began eight months ago. More than 80 foundations, local businesses, and community donors have committed $5.4 million to the project, or 60 percent of the $9 million campaign goal. The remaining money will be raised through the public donation campaign called “The Future is in Your Hands.”
Bob Ezelle, former Club director and the co-chair of the fundraising campaign, calls it an opportunity for the organization to do more for the community.
“We lost our facility, and with the new facility we will be able to serve more kids, be able to offer more programming and be able to provide that resource that we’ve had for over 60 years in Kalamazoo, and continue that legacy.”
The brand new 30-thousand-square-foot facility will be built on 1.4 acres of land at 825 Portage Street between Vine Street and Jackson Street. The new facility designed by TowerPinkster will include a gymnasium, art and media rooms, a teen center, and a STEM center. If it's fully funded, the building is expected to open in fall 2024.
“It represents a new era to own our own facility,” said current director and CEO Matt Lynn. “We’ve always been renters or leasers or have occupied space in other buildings and now we own our own asset. We own our own property. We can say that we are building this to actually now stake our claim to the Kalamazoo community for generations to come.”
Lynn also said that the four neighborhood Boys and Girls Club locations will continue programing and providing service to the neighborhoods even after the new building opens. They currently provide programming for about 1,300 youth.
“We will still maintain our neighborhood locations,” said Lynn. “Because of barriers such as transportation, being able to get to a central location may not work for every family. And that’s the reason why having those neighborhood centers is so important. And we want to continue and keep the four that we have, but hopefully, maybe grow.”
The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kalamazoo moved its temporary headquarters to 4000 Portage Street and will remain there until the new building opens. Neighborhood Clubs operate programs and services from four schools: Washington Writers’ Academy, Milwood Magnet School, Hillside Middle School, and Northeastern Elementary. Lynn estimates that about 150 to 160 K-12 children and teens participate in programs at those sites each day.
Western Michigan University freshman Damarion Johnson was one of them. He joined the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Kalamazoo when he was five years old and says he’s an example of how an investment in free programming for kids pays off.
“It’s not just being able to go somewhere after school and just keep yourself occupied. It’s really trying to make a difference in your life,” Johnson says. “So, with those activities that I have done, and everything that I participated in, it’s definitely set me up for success from the transition between senior year of high school and my freshman year of college.”