All Roads Head Toward Success at Boys & Girls Clubs L.A. Harbor

The long tail of the pandemic has students still struggling to catch up. Isolation and fitful reintegration have led to a whole generation of students being years behind in their social, emotional, and academic development. And the toll is heavy. 

“We see the kids not wanting to interact with each other, having a hard time working with each other,” says Tony Tripp, chief development officer at Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor. “Kids have lost hope – we can see it on their faces.”

To counter this disturbing trend, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor launched the Pathways to Success initiative to ensure that every aspect of the club’s programming is geared to inspire kids about their futures. Through the initiative, kids work with staff to design a roadmap that will guide and encourage them to identify goals that will help them get to where they want to go. With Pathways to Success, kids see how passing a math test isn’t just about a grade, it’s a stepping stone to getting into college or landing that electrician apprenticeship. 

“They see how all these small goals along the way are contributing to what their future is going to be,” Tripp says. “That way they’re not bogged down by ‘the right now.’” 

Boys & Girls Clubs is a national organization, yet the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor has a special significance. It is the oldest on the West Coast – founded in 1937– and the largest in L.A. County. The Los Angeles Harbor branch alone has 21 club sites from Gardena to the Harbor and serves upwards of 2,400 youth a day. 

Pathways to Success runs through the entire fabric of the organization, helping kids move toward a positive destination after high school, whether that’s college or a career in the trades. Kids interested in higher education can, from an early age, join the College Bound program, where they receive one-on-one case management to prepare them for college. For those kids who want to jump straight into the workforce after high school, the Club’s Career Bound program sets students up for apprenticeships and internships that can lead to good-paying jobs.

“We want all of our youth to see that they have a future and to know they can achieve whatever it is they want,” Tripp says.