SUMMER CAMP FAQ

Trained Staff & Safety
Our staff have been busy training and preparing for all our members to return to the Club for an action-packed summer of fun! Youth will be in a safe environment, have fun, learn and make friends under the guidance of trained Youth Development Professionals. 

What is a Youth Development Professional?
As a Youth Development Professional (YDP), staff are the first contact and facilitators of Club programs. Our YDP’s have been familiarized with
Boys & Girls Clubs Basics, safety training programs and continuous education through Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Spillet Leadership University to ensure our youth receive the strongest foundation to tackle life’s challenges.  

Do you conduct background checks on staff?
All of our staff and volunteers must complete a LiveScan Background Check as well as a thorough background check prior to employment or volunteering at the Club.  

How do you train your staff? 
Within their first two weeks of employment, staff are required to complete the Sexual Abuse Prevention training set by Cal Chamber and within the first month of employment must complete Staff-to-Youth Interactions, Child & Club Safety 101 and Emotional Safety training modules certified by Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Spillet Leadership University.  

Are Youth Development Professionals licensed as teachers? 
While YDP’s are entry level employees and not accredited teachers, our program is overseen by dedicated coordinators and leadership with decades of experience at the Alameda Boys & Girls Club. Staff and youth are supervised and coached on best practices in addition to their leadership development trainings while working through specialized program developed specifically for each program area. 

Has your Club been inspected by an independent public safety organization?
The Club is inspected quarterly by the Board led safety committee and is subjected annually to an outside inspection by a Boys & Girls Clubs of America safety inspector.

Bottom-line, is your Club safe? 
Safety is our top priority and we never want to put our youth in a situation where their safety is jeopardized. By sorting youth into appropriate age groups, instituting Club safety rules, training all of our staff and conducting continuous safety inspections, you can be rest assured that your youth will always be safe and have a great time at our Club! 

Facilities & Programs

As an organization that was built to serve kids and kids only, Alameda Boys & Girls Club’s state-of-the-art facilities provide members robust program options for them to participate in apart from outside distractions. As part of the Summer Day Camp, members will rotate through our Games Room, Gymnasium, Center of Innovation, Learning Center, Living Garden and outdoor field spaces. And for members who stay for the afternoon program, we open our Technology Center and Recording Studio for limited use.  

Games Room: Air Hockey, Billiards, Carpet Ball, Connect Four, Ninjas and Samurais, Pictionary, 20 Questions, King of the Hill competitions and more. 

Gym + Field: Basketball, Soccer, Tennis, Lacrosse, Volleyball, Spikeball, Can Jam, Capture the Flag, Cornhole, Dodge Ball, Kick Ball, Sharks and Minnows, Pac-Man, Relay Races and Over the Wire. 

Learning Center: Summer Brain Gain, Power Hour, Science Projects, Jeopardy, Bingo, Math & English Hangman, Spelling Baseball, Clay Working, Mancala and Trading Card Tournaments. 

Living Garden: Ecology Days, Scavenger Hunt, STEM Arts, Planting and Harvesting, Edible Garden, Bouquet Making, Zoology, Picnic Games and Clay Pottery. 

What is special about your Clubhouse?
At ABGC we are a one-stop resource for education, health and wellness and recreation services. Between our four walls, kids can participate in a large variety of programs tailored to teaching them valuable life skills. In the past year alone, our Club was able to supply our members with the best tools to enhance their talents- upgrading our Technology Lab equipment, introducing brand new program areas in the Recording Studio and soon to be Electronic Arts Room and replacing our table games in the Games Room. 

Does your Club have Wi-Fi that the kids can use?
The Club is proud to provide high-speed wifi access for homework to our members through our Club computers and tablets. While we do not give out our wifi log-in information, members are welcome to use the internet on a computer in the Tech Lab or on one of our Club laptops or tablets to access school or learning materials. 

Does your Club have a pool or offer swim lessons?
We do not have an aquatics/pool area to offer swim lessons. 

What is the age range of your membership?
For our daytime Summer Camp we will take children who have will have completed grades 1st through 5th.
During our standard program hours, we serve youth ages 6-18. 

Will a 6-12-year-old will be doing programs with teens?
No – we are aware that children and teens develop differently at each age level. We split our programs into two separate hierarchies of elementary-middle school members and junior high-high-school teens. In our Summer Day Camp groups, we’ve gone further breaking out into groups of Jr. Explorers (1st & 2nd graders), Explorers (3rd & 4th graders) and Intermediates (5th Graders) with each group attending a different program during each hour. 

Are the facilities open to parents to come watch their kids?
No – Unless a parent is a formally vetted volunteer of the Club and has completed a LiveScan Background Check, no parent, teacher or adult is allowed to supervise their child while at the Club.  

Will my child have to bring school supplies or a lunch?
You’re more than welcome to send your child with their own supplies, but we provide members with all materials they’ll need for program. We will also provide breakfast, snacks and lunch and ask that you do not send them with meals to the Club unless they have specific dietary restrictions. 

Are kids assigned to different program areas and do they have to stay in that area?
Once members are sorted into their age specific Summer Camp group, they will be in that group for the whole week and be assigned to our various program areas for one hour blocks until the end of the Summer Camp program. To break up the monotony of scheduled rotations, every day members will start in a different area than the day before and unique programs will be run from day-to-day.
Members will have to stay in their assigned program area for each one-hour block. During standard Club hours (1PM-6PM), members will have the choice of which program area they go to depending on the availability of that room to be open.

Will kids ever travel off campus for field trips?
We have four field trips planned for the summer: San Francisco Aquarium, U.S.S. Hornet Museum, Lawrence Hall of Science, and Crab Cove Visitor Center and Aquarium. We will commute by bus, ferry and walking. Costs of the field trip and bagged lunch is included in the week’s fee, and kid’s may bring additional funds to purchase items from gift shops.