February Newsletter

CEO Letter

February marks one year since I joined the Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County team and it has been an incredible 365+ days of learning, growing, and leaning into the discomfort of new and big challenges. This month, we completed the first floor renovations at our new Loveland Youth Campus and next week the space will be bustling with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers being cared for by Teaching Tree Early Childhood Learning Center. This six month, $2M construction project was a dream years in the making and is becoming a reality through an incredible partnership between BGCLC, Early Childhood Council of Larimer County, Teaching Tree, and United Way of Larimer County. It has required thousands of hours of work between our shared staff and more importantly a foundation of trust and transparency to ensure this successful collaboration. But the journey isn’t over quite yet!

The second phase of our Loveland Youth Campus capital campaign is already underway and soon the second floor of 2366 E. 1st Street will begin to transform into a shared hub of services and support for youth and families. We will be welcoming additional nonprofit partners on this next leg of the journey including ChildSafe, Loveland Youth Gardeners, SummitStone Health Partners and others who will help expand our program offerings to the surrounding community. We are excited to start construction once again this spring and celebrate the grand opening with all of you in late summer when the campus will be humming with activity and ready to serve over 350 youth and families daily.

As the Loveland Youth Campus took shape over the last year, our day to day operations at BGCLC have not slowed down. We are serving over 700 youth each day at our 13 Club sites across Larimer County, providing them with a safe space for academic enrichment, leadership and athletic programming, and mental health support. Our Behavioral Health Team has been recognized at both the state and regional level for their excellence in trauma informed practice and will become a training hub for our Boys & Girls Club partners across the country this year. Listening to our Senior Youth of the Year share his story, I was reminded through teary eyes that we are quite literally changing young lives and helping to build brighter futures every single day.

Thank you to all of our staff, volunteers, donors and community partners who empower us to do this important work. I’m excited to continue in our good work together over this next year!

With gratitude,

Allison Hines

Chief Executive Officer