South Bethlehem institutions and organizations are stepping up to fill the void in programming created by the closing of the South Side Boys and Girls Club.
The South Side branch of the organization shut down because of low funding and has now merged with the North Bethlehem branch.
“The numbers of students participating in the Boys and Girls Club were dwindling and, unfortunately, some things had to be done,” said Carolina Hernandez, the assistant dean and director of the Lehigh Community Service Office. “Managing multiple locations is a difficult task for an agency that causes some challenges, especially fiscally.”
Hernandez said community partners are receiving fewer grants, so funding is an issue for many of these organizations.
According to the Boys and Girls Club of Bethlehem website, the organization offers a number of activities, including technology classes, recreational sports, SMART Moves, an anti-drug and alcohol program and homework assistance.
During the school year, the club is open Tuesdays through Fridays after school until 9 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
There is a yearly fee of $15 for club membership.
Hernandez said while a significant number of Lehigh students volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club through student organizations, the number of South Bethlehem students participating in the club was dropping.
Hernandez said she doesn’t think the kids of the South Bethlehem community will walk over to the North Side for the Boys and Girls Club because it’s too far and winter takes up a large part of the academic year.
“Having been at Lehigh 16 years now, I’ve seen some key, historic agencies disappear from the South Side,” Hernandez said. “And yet, I’m always inspired by how quickly the community mobilizes to fill in the gaps.”
Such is the case with the after-school programming lost to the shutdown of the Boys and Girls club.
Hernandez said the schools in South Bethlehem are community schools, which means they offer in-house after-school programming. She said the schools remain open late to maintain safe spaces for children and families to engage in.
Lehigh is a partner of programming at Donegan Elementary School and Broughal Middle School. Northampton Community College is partnered with Fountain Hill Elementary School.
Hernandez said the after-school programs offered include homework help, play-to-learn club, math clubs, leadership teams and arts programming with ArtsQuest and the Banana Factory. CSO partners with the schools, but the programs are run and managed by the community school coordinators at each location.
Kimberly Bush, the after-school coordinator at Donegan Elementary School, said she makes after-school programs at Donegan open and available. Bush works for both Donegan Elementary School and the Boys and Girls Club.
After-school programming is also offered at the South Side branch of the Bethlehem Public Library.
Library branch manager Brenda Grow said the South Side branch is not implementing additional programming in response to the Boys and Girls club shutdown, but the library already has activities scheduled.
The library offers recurring STEM workshops, sponsored by Lehigh’s Alpha Phi sorority, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on select Tuesdays. Grow said the workshops can be popular, with at least five South Bethlehem students in attendance.
The library also offers Homework Help, an after-school tutoring program for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
Marjorie Manasse, the principal of the Holy Infancy School, wrote in an email that only about four or five students from her school attended the Boys and Girls Club last year, but they have adjusted well to the shutdown and now go to the library instead.
Hernandez said hundreds of Lehigh students have been engaged with the Boys and Girls Club over the years, and some students are still engaged with the location in North Bethlehem.
“To me, the big loss is not so much a place where students can volunteer,” Hernandez said. “It’s a loss of a huge part of history in the community of South Bethlehem, and it’s a loss of a major agency that has done incredible work with youth in South Bethlehem.”
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How much did that Ethics Center cost, again?