Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 10/11/2023
SPRINGFIELD — The $500,000 grant awarded to the Boys and Girls Club Family Center will allow the nonprofit to expand its building, Keshawn Dodds, the executive director of the agency, told Reminder Publishing.
Dodds explained the Early Education Out of School Grant was a “very, very competitive” grant, with nonprofits around the state applying for it. This was the first time the Family Center was awarded the grant.
Dodds, who wrote the grant, said he was “very happy” when he learned the center had been chosen.
According to the website of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, “All of the programs selected to receive an EEOST Capital Fund grant award serve publicly subsidized families, have demonstrated financial need, and have secured additional funding to pay for a portion of their project costs. All of the grantees are tax-exempt non-profit corporations or organizations in which a nonprofit corporation has a controlling interest.
In a written statement, Mayor Domenic Sarno said, “Keshawn Dodds and his amazing team at the Boys and Girls Club Family Center do such a tremendous job in our community with the programs and services they offer, especially for our youth. As a former executive director for the South End Community Center, I know firsthand the delicate balancing act that is done when trying to fund programs and capital facility needs. This $500,000 state Early Education Out of School grant that they are being awarded will make a huge difference and help advance capital project needs for their building. In addition to the $500,000 my administration awarded them as part of my seventh round of ARPA awards back in August 2022, this puts the Boys and Girls Club Family Center in a great position to address immediate needs and advance future plans and opportunity too.”
Dodds explained the building on Acorn Street was constructed in 1966 and he realized after the center had been re-opened after the pandemic, the building needed expansion to accommodate the children and families it serves.
The grant will pay for deferred maintenance, which will then allow the building to be enlarged. Dodds said the capital campaign for the project is in “the quiet phase.”
The center serves 500 children every week, Dodds said, with pre-school and after-school programs as well as many athletic programs. For more information about its services, go to https://bgcfamilycenter.org.