While the B and G Club may not seem like they are directly helping with the economic recovery of Somerville, they work in more indirect ways. They allow for parents to spend a bit more time at work by giving their kids a place to use computers and get homework help for free. They also offer different programs for the teens such as how to deal with finances and decision making. Both these things can have ripple effects into the greater Somerville community in helping slowly build back up what may have been shaken down.
This Club also has worked with numerous other organizations throughout Somerville in the past and present. They obviously have a fairly strong tie with the different schools throughout Somerville, and have to work with many on a weekly basis. In fact, they rent out part of their building to the Somerville School's Superintendent's office. They have also worked with several non-profits that focus on youth services such as SCAT, CAAS, and Teen Empowerment Somerville.
I agree that the boys and girls club of Somerville will be an excellent addition to the social map, and could serve as a central node. As Dean mentioned the Boys and Girls club is a central organization within the community. They are constantly holding functions, and look to reach out to community whenever possible to help kids. Because of their experience with the community they may be able to serve as a main "hub" with multiple strong connections to other important Somerville organizations. I know there already exists a link between the Boys and Girls club of Somerville and Theta Delta Chi of Tufts University because as a freshmen I worked with them to hold a community basketball tournament. The Boys and Girls club was very open to any ideas we brought to the table about the event, but also helped us accomplish the event realistically. I hope that they will be more open than some of the other organizations that we have spoke with in the past, and can contribute their connections to help strengthen the network.
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Adding to what Marcus said about the organization working with other organizations, the Boys and Girls club of Somerville worked with the Economics Society at Tufts. Now that we're getting more organizations on the map from the Somerville area, it'll be interesting to see the connections between these organizations and organizations at Tufts. I think this could be especially beneficial to our purpose as well because we could get more Tufts organizations to help out in conjunction with the Somerville organizations, so that both these entities are helping the greater area of Somerville.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if there is a way for us to set up an organization that can link with this B and G Club, perhaps volunteering or setting up events to educate them about the current economy and maybe how they could be a part of helping the society become out of recession or downfall.
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