The Watertown Boys & Girls Club recently unveiled the newly renovated space on the bottom level of the clubhouse, which will serve as home to the new KidConnect After School Program.
On June 12, the Club welcomed the public to take a look around the space that will be a key space for the Club, said WBGC Executive Director Gary Beatty.
“We’ve called it the new foundations, that has been the project that has brought this space to life, because we are in the bottom of our building — it’s the lower levels — but it really is creating a foundation for the future of our organization,” Beatty said. “We have a really proud and storied past, and now we’re looking into the future to decide how we’re going to continue to support the kids in our community, the families in the community who have been so reliant on what we do here at the Boys & Girls Club every day.”
The new program will debut in the fall, Beatty said.
“In September of this year, we’re going to be opening our brand new KidConnect Program for children in kindergarten through third grade and a licensed after school program that will be sanctioned by the Department of Education & Early Care at the state level,” Beatty said. “So again, a brand new undertaking, which we’re very excited about.”
During school hours and after the program ends at 6 p.m., the space will be available for other uses. The Boys & Girls Club Teen Program will be able to use the space in the evenings, Beatty said, and it will also be available to the community.
“This is the space that we can envision hosting local community meetings, morning programs for adults and youth in any county with special needs,” he said.
Members of the Boys & Girls Club board have long had visions for the space, but for years it was occupied by the First Path Day Care Center. Paul DerBoghosian, who was board president in 2014 and 2015, said he saw the possibilities.
“While the Club had ideas for the space, it was under a long term lease which limited what could be done,” DerBoghosian said.
Former Board President Alan Medville said the project started several years ago when Phil Greenough was the Board President and Medville was the head of the Strategic Planning Committee.
“When we first brought this up to the Board, we didn’t know what kind of reception we would be getting because we had an income stream (from the lease),” Medville said. “But Steve Messina said, ‘We’ve been wanting to do this forever. We never could figure out how to do it. So I’m really glad that we are doing it.’ So that was a great vote of confidence from the old guard of the Board — Kelly MacDonald and Steve — to do the after school program.”
The space was much different when the project began, Medville said. It had been split into many little rooms and the ceilings were low. Now the space is wide open, bright, and feels spacious.
Beatty said the KidConnect Program will also help alleviate the pressure on afterschool programs at the Watertown Public Schools.
“Watertown Community Education here inWatertown does a fantastic job of catering in our elementary schools across the town, but even they are maxed out at this point in time,” Beatty said. “So we recognize, and our board recognized, to their eternal credit, many years ago that we needed to increase our footprint and have more spaces for kids at our Club. This phase will allow us to do that.”
The Boys & Girls Club program will be up to 38 students, and when the ceremony was held on June 12 it was almost at full enrollment, Beatty said.
He also thanked his predecessors, Renee Gaudette and Alan Gallagher.
“I’m standing on their shoulders for years and years, they kept this club going, they built the foundation on which we have now created this new foundation,” he said. “So thank you to them, also for all their guidance and help with me in my role.”
Find out more about the KidConnect program by clicking here.