Healthy Habits
Empowering youth to eat right is a generation-changing, life-enhancing program goal. Triple Play’s nutrition component, called Healthy Habits, provides a lesson on the power of choice, calories, vitamins and minerals, the food pyramid, and appropriate portion size. Healthy Habits is the “Mind” component of Triple Play, which emphasizes eating smart and maintaining physical fitness to improve the overall well-being of Club members. The Healthy Habits program is designed to:
- Teach young people about the benefits of eating right and being physically active
- Equip young people with skills to adopt healthier habits by participating in fun and engaging learning activities both at the Club and at home
- Encourage young people to take small steps toward positive behavior change
Kid's Gallery
Girlstrong
Girlstrong will provide human trafficking prevention and awareness for Texas girls, ages 8-18, in order to prevent their involvement in the juvenile justice system. State-wide, Boys & Girls Clubs will serve young girls who have been identified as at-risk for involvement in trafficking due to demographic, socio-economic, and family-related factors. #girlstrong is comprised of Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s proven-effective program models SMART Girls, NetSmartz, and The Boys & Girls Club Experience. Together, these programs provide multiple protective factors that defend girls from vulnerability to involvement in trafficking: they improve girls’ self-esteem and resilience; teach them about safe use of the Internet and social media; and offer daily after-school guidance and support.
Kid's Gallery
The Texas Statewide Youth Services Network (TEXSYN) Project
The TEXSYN Project is implemented by the Texas Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs in more than 200 program sites statewide. Some 2,700 at-risk juvenile’s, ages 8 through 17, are served annually. All youth served exhibit one or more characteristics that place them at risk of being referred to the juvenile justice system in their local communities, including, but not limited to, the absence or inadequacy of positive adult role models and/or inadequate adult supervision during non-school hours; the presence of anti-social behaviors at home, in school settings, and/or in the community; experimentation with tobacco, alcohol, or other illegal drugs; sexual experimentation inappropriate for age; and a demonstrated lack of respect for authority figures and/or violation of communities’ standards for youth behavior.
The Texas Academic Innovation and Mentoring (AIM) Project
Since 2009, Texas AIM has helped over 16,000 Texas kids succeed in school.
How does Texas AIM work?
Texas AIM is a timely effort to confront the student achievement gap for at risk students in Texas, one student at a time with a comprehensive and holistic strategy. With cumulative minority dropout rates throughout Texas averaging more than 50%, such innovative collaboration with proven results is critical. Texas AIM utilizes the historic strengths of the organizations Boys & Girls Clubs and Sylvan Learning Centers, along with cooperation of local education agencies (schools districts), students make pronounced gains in the academic areas targeted.
For more than 100 years Boys & Girls Clubs have provided youth development services to the youth most in need of them through mentoring and intensive case management when needed. For more than 35 years, Sylvan Learning Centers uses research based tutoring strategies building on individual students learning styles to target skills gaps in language arts, mathematics and/or college preparation. The Partnership literally provides mentors that tutor (BGC staff) and tutors that mentor (Sylvan teachers). Fifty-four Boys & Girls Club sites throughout Texas are actively participating in the statewide program. The results from these personal wrap around services yield outstanding results in skills mastery, credit recovery and academic promotion.
Why does Texas AIM work?
Kids enrolled in Texas AIM get the opportunity to experience the full Boys & Girls Club Experience, which encourages positive social and academic outcomes for our kids by providing a safe space to:
- Develop positive social skills, protective factors, and resilience
- Have opportunities to develop self-confidence and leadership skills
- Benefit from dependable relationships and settings without criticism or disapproval
Texas AIM Project includes:
- 30 hours of instruction
- 8:1 maximum student-teacher ratio
- Curriculum includes grades 1st – 5th
- Intervention-focused programs remediate specific skill deficits in mathematics and reading
**All children will be tested beforehand to determine if they meet the requirements.**
For more information, call our Club at (956) 723-5223.
Street SMART
Street SMART counteracts the negative lures of gangs, violence, and “street” influences on young adolescents, ages 11-13. While building awareness and resistance skills, participants develop the confidence and knowledge to make intelligent choices. Street SMART’s three modules teach young people how gangs work and how to resist being recruited, how to recognize and resolve conflicts peacefully, and how to become positive peer helpers. Participants reinforce what they have learned and share it with others by organizing community events that promote the positive message of Street SMART.
Kid's Gallery
SMART Girls
An outgrowth of the popular and effective SMART Moves program, SMART Girls is a health, fitness, prevention/education and self-esteem enhancement program for girls, ages 10-15. The program is designed to encourage healthy attitudes and lifestyles that will enable early adolescent girls to develop to their full potential.
Kid's Gallery
SMART Leaders
SMART Leaders is a booster program to SMART Moves. This program keeps teens involved in the SMART Moves program after Stay SMART, reinforces skills and knowledge youth learned in SMART Moves and prepares teens as leaders to help their peers resist using alcohol, tobacco, and other dugs, and postpone sexual activity. The program is available through a collaborative effort among The Pennsylvania State University, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.
SMART Moves
This nationally acclaimed comprehensive prevention program helps young people resist alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use. The program features engaging, interactive small group activities designed to increase peer support, enhance life skills, build resiliency and strengthen leadership skills. This year-round program encourages collaborations among Club staff, youth parents and representatives from other community organizations. The program’s components include: SMART Kids, for children ages 6-9, Start SMART, for youth ages 10-12, Stay SMART, for youth ages 13-15, and SMART Parents, for participating Club members in SMART Moves.