Jacksonville Business Journal - by Dave Strupp Staff Writer
Friday, May 2, 2008

TALLAHASSEE -- Students who attend Florida's Boys and Girls Clubs after-school programs have higher rates of graduation, attendance and traditionally make more money after graduation than students who did not participate in the programs.

When a Florida Boys and Girls Club member graduates, his or her annual income rises by $6,935, according to a report released by Florida TaxWatch.

The TaxWatch study was sponsored by the Florida Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs, but researchers and officials at TaxWatch felt it necessary to look into the organization's statewide impact, said Kaye Kendrick, senior vice president for research at TaxWatch, a Tallahassee-based private, nonprofit research institute.

Researchers spent six months preparing the report, mostly waiting for attendance and achievement data from the Florida Department of Education, Kendrick said.

By Mark  Schantz  | The Suncoast News
Published: July 26, 2008

TARPON SPRINGS -- Late last Saturday afternoon, the Yianni Patterson Memorial Snook Tournament was being heralded as a success with bittersweet overtones.

Capt. Tommy Mahinis of Tarpon Springs-based Finatic Inshore Charters, a member of the Anclote Key Anglers, said this tournament was named in Patterson's memory to help raise funds for the Tarpon Springs Boys and Girls Club and the parochial school.

The Anclote Key Anglers and the Boys and Girls Club helped organize the tournament and hope it will become an annual event.

Patterson died last year of a heart attack at the age of 37. He had been managing construction of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral Parochial School.

© Copyright, St. Petersburg Times
In print: June 8, 2008

Published: July 26, 2008

(Pinellas County)- Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast received a $225,000 grant from Allegany Franciscan Ministries, Inc. to fund gender specific, all male, youth violence prevention and leadership programs.   This past Saturday we held our first ever Boys to Men: Summit for the Future. 

For many adolescent males, the transition from boyhood to manhood is a challenging one.  This journey requires young men to understand and manage such things as physical changes in their bodies,  relationships with authority, friends and members of the opposite sex, greater freedom and responsibility for personal decisions and increased peer pressure. To help make this transition a positive and healthy one, Boys & Girls Clubs of Suncoast held this summit which was very well received by the youth that attended even with it taking place early on a Saturday morning.
 

BGCS Youth Keep Reaching for the Stars
April 24, 2008

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast honored outstanding youth during the Annual Corporate Board Meeting & Bright Stars Youth Awards Banquet held at Largo Cultural Center.  The youth were recognized for outstanding achievement in the areas of academics, sportsmanship, and leadership. 

The audience was entertained by Anthony Murphy (from our Royal Theater Arts Academy) who sang the song classic The Prayer and the incredible "Million Dollar Steppers" representing the Clearwater West Boys & Girls Clubs rocked the whole room into a huge round of applause. Spectacular performances!!!!

Everyone in attendance was spellbound as Ciara Trueblood; our Pinellas County Youth of the Year for 2008 and the emcee for the event shared her soul with such honesty and candor that the audience was moved with strong reaction. Her almost unbelievable story powerful and shocking, there was a long pause, and then thunderous applause. It's a story of overcoming for the ages. Ciara credited Boys & Girls Club with giving her hope, and comfort. In her words "the Boys & Girls Club saved my life."

ST. PETERSBURG
March 5, 2008

International Boxing Organization (IBO) light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver took time out of his training schedule to speak to students at the Royal Theater Boys and Girls Club Arts Academy in Midtown on Friday, encouraging about 40 students to rise above their circumstances and promising to support the academy.

Tarver, 39, a Tampa resident, grew up in an inner-city Orlando neighborhood, and credits the boxing program at the Boys and Girls Club with giving him an alternative to the gangs and drugs that surrounded him.

"If it wasn't for the Boys and Girls Club, I wouldn't have found that outlet in sports at all," he said. "I got to experience what life is like outside the concrete ghetto."

Tarver said many of the kids he grew up with ended up in jail, and he wants his success to serve as an example that young people don't have to succumb to their surroundings.

Benefactors will help kids create saltwater tank

St. Petersburg

The Pier Aquarium received a $3,824 grant from the BankAtlantic Foundation to support an "Ocean in Motion" education program at the Northside Boys & Girls Club.

The grant will allow the aquarium to offer an after-school marine science program that promotes ecosystem stewardship.

Children at the Northside Boys & Girls Club, at 1035 Burlington Ave. N, will create and maintain a saltwater aquarium at the center.

"Ocean in Motion," a 40-gallon saltwater touch tank, has been housed in classrooms at Tarpon Springs, Ridgecrest, Clearview Avenue and Bauder elementary schools and Woodlawn and Southside Fundamental middle schools.

This is the first time the program will be offered at a nonschool site.

© Copyright, St. Petersburg Times
In print: June 8, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG

Every weekday after school, the Royal Theater Boys and Girls Club Arts Academy in Midtown buzzes with activity.

More than 80 youths participate in the academy's various arts programs.

Strains of music fill the hallways. Voices boom from the theater's stage.

Budding record producers hunch over knobs in the academy's recording studio.

Kameo Walker and Anthony Murphy blend right in with the other students. They look like ordinary teenagers, but their dreams are anything but ordinary.

Walker carries herself with poise beyond her 15 years. She dreams of one day dancing with a professional company.

Murphy projects a laid-back persona, but when he talks about acting, he becomes animated and full of passion. The 16-year-old envisions himself performing on a Broadway stage.