The Opportunity Gap
IIn Silicon Valley, a region synonymous with innovation and prosperity, 29,000 children live below the poverty line. At Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula, we believe that factors like hard work and strength of character should determine a child’s outcome in life, not their zip code. We empower students with equitable access to opportunities that will help them thrive in school and beyond. In partnership with schools, we expand the school day and school year through after-school and summer programs, providing FREE, high-quality comprehensive services from kindergarten to and through college and career placement.
OUR VISION
All youth grow up to lead fulfilling lives fueled by their passions, talents, and a love of learning
Our MISSION
To empower the youth in our community with equitable access to social, academic, and career opportunities to thrive
CORE BELIEFS
All youth have talents, and it’s our job to identify and nurture them so they blossom. All youth deserve to have optimism about their future.
The cities around BGCP are part of a single community. Just like the rest of America, our community has become more segregated based on income and race over the past decades. We now have many disparate neighborhoods with extreme differences in wealth, education, and opportunity. Yet we’re all interconnected, interdependent. These are all our kids, and we accept the responsibility to ensure they all have the opportunity to live fulfilling lives. As the legendary Mervin G. Morris so beautifully said: “These are all Our Kids, living in Our Town, on Our Watch.”
None of us succeed alone. Those of us who have enjoyed success recognize that we’ve benefited from the hard work and sacrifices of others. We’ve been able to leverage the investments and systems made by generations before us with our own hard work. Much of life is out of our control, a matter of chance. We feel a sense of humility, responsibility, and privilege to share what we’ve been so fortunate to receive.
Warm hearts are most effective when accompanied by hard heads. We need to make tough decisions on how to allocate limited resources. We need to bring a critical business perspective to what we do, and never be satisfied with just “doing good.” We mustn’t confuse effort with accomplishment. We must always ask ourselves: how can we do better?
Our work is about sharing, not about giving or taking. Everyone involved with BGCP is helping each other in some way. None of us are saviors who come in to help others be like us. We’re about working together to achieve a shared vision. We support each other, and we all benefit from the experience. At different times in our lives, we all have different assets and needs. A compassionate community accounts for that and allows us to give and receive at different times. We’re not like Robin Hood, taking from the rich to give to the poor. BGCP is about sharing opportunities and strengthening our collective community. Let’s all share what we have, and we’ll all be the richer for it.
CORE VALUES
Curiosity: We wonder why things are and explore fearlessly
Respect: We honor our community and our diversity
Ownership: We step up and take responsibility for our learning and actions
Ganas: We keep going when it’s tough
Unity: We are inclusive and support each other to reach our goals
Equity: We elevate the strengths and support the needs of those around us