Published on October 15th, 2009

Budget cuts shut down Boys and Girls Clubs

By VAN WILLIAMS

Although many of the Bush communities that host the Boys and Girls Clubs of Alaska survived a recent barrage of shutdowns, nobody is protected. More closures could be on the way.

In just the last two weeks the popular youth program that serves some 20,000 kids has closed nine of it 45 clubhouses and laid off roughly 20 percent of its statewide workforce because of a major budget shortfall.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Alaska hasn't received the federal funding the program had relied on annually for the last 15 years, said John Oates, the club's Southcentral Alaska chief executive officer. As a result, the program had to make severe cuts that left many people stunned.

"It's horrible," Oates said recently from his Anchorage office. "There are lots of tears on this side. We all have memories of essentially opening every one of these clubhouses. We all have attachments to these clubs. Then to have to tell them that we're going to have to close the club ... it's almost too much to bear."

The closed clubhouses are in Kivalina, Two Rivers, North Pole, Tok, Juneau, Galena, Wrangell, Tyonek and Copper Center. Oates said other clubhouses in the state could be closed, too, but he wouldn't say which ones.

Either way, it's impacted the lives of too many kids already.

"They are heartbroken when they find out their club is going to close," Oates said. "They go 'I don't know what I'm going to do. This is my second home. I've been coming here all my life.' "

In some cases, clubhouses are reducing services, cutting staff and scaling back operating hours to avoid closing its doors. It's become a common trend in clubs across the country.

"This isn't the first time we've had to downsize," said Alana Humphrey, chief operating officer for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Alaska. "This past year we took a 10 percent cutback just to keep everything going."

In some villages, the program is asking community leaders to help combat costs.

"Like for example, in St. Mary's that community has filled that fuel tank in that club to keep warm since we opened," Humphrey said. "It's looking for new ways to fund what you have to fund to be there, and in all cases the clubs that have closed had the least amount of community financial support and the highest dependency on this particular funding stream."

Membership is free at most clubs, although the most expensive fee is the $40 a year membership. There are also scholarship opportunities for families who can't afford memberships.

Nearly half of the 20,000 kids in the clubs are not members, Humphrey said.

For so many families, the Boys and Girls Clubs provide affordable child care. That's what makes this round of closures so hard to absorb.

Worst of all, more clubhouses around the state could shut their doors.

"You really can't say anybody is safe at this point. We're re-evaluating every day," Humphrey said.

"We don't know where the bottom is. We could be at the bottom right now and next week we'll get some great news that we'll start opening clubs again. And we do believe these are temporary closures."

Meanwhile, here is an update from Humphrey on some of the regions in rural Alaska:

• In the Northwest Arctic, the Kivalina clubhouse is closed, but others in Kotzebue, Selawik, Kiana and Noorvik will stay open, she said.

"The Northwest Arctic funds their clubs through their communities at a higher rate than many ... they are really a model for the state, and so while there are challenges in those clubs we do believe we'll keep all of those open."

• On the North Slope, Barrow, Wainwright and Nuiqsut appear safe for now.

"All of those are funded pretty well. We may reduce services, but we're not necessarily going to close," she said. "Barrow has just moved into the school up there. We actually lost our lease in Barrow, which was nonrelated to this shortfall, but in the end it will help us with that club because it lowers our building cost."

• In the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, St. Mary's, Mountain Village, Akiak and Togiak will remain open while the one in Emmonak is on hold because the facility being used is falling apart.

"They're all being evaluated. I can tell you St. Mary's will stay open because it has a grant," she said. "And Emmonak, our challenge is the facility there. We've got a building that we can't be in right now because it's just falling apart. We're looking for a place where we can run programs.

"In most cases, the villages very much want to find another place for us to operate."

• In Dillingham, the club has partnered with the school district to ensure part of the program continues.

"The main club site is closed now because the manager quit, but we have a partnership with the school district there and we are doing some programming in the school," she said. "It's just an early-bird program. We're in there five days a week, so it's not much right now."

Is there a chance for expansion?

"We would not be able to expand in the particular site we're in. The school came to us before we knew we were going to have this challenge, so we're always looking for new ways to partner. That's very much how we operate here. If it makes sense for kids, it makes sense to partner."

• In the Aleutians, the Sand Point club remains open but the one in King Cove closed before the budget cuts. "We could have closed it (in King Cove), but the staff happened to resign and we just didn't refill the positions, so that one is closed," she said. "At this time no decision has been made on Sand Point. And really no decision has been made on any club that is still open."

• In Seward, the clubhouse there will remain open despite facing hard times.

"(The budget cuts) have been devastating," Margaret Anderson, board member for the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Kenai Peninsula, told the Anchorage Daily News.

Van Williams can be reached at vwilliams@alaskanewspapers.com, or by phone at 907-348-2452 or 800-770-9830, ext. 452

Most Popular Stories

Budget cuts shut down Boys and Girls Clubs