The Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan has been an organization synonymous with family and community. Having more than 90 years in the business, the organization is being moved into the future to cater to the needs of today. Providing raises in minimum wages for its workers and laying the groundwork for entrepreneurship, BGCSM is staking a claim in Detroit’s youth and exposing them to career paths unseen.
Reimagining the brand, Shawn H. Wilson President and CEO, BGCSM is growing the organization and helping today’s youth gain the knowledge and skillset to last a lifetime. Focused on getting youth career, start-up and homeowner ready before leaving the clubs, the organization is also establishing a business ecosystem that will help promote financial stability and education.
“Career-ready from a standpoint of they can make a livable wage, start-up meaning they can start their own business and really become job creators and of course homeownership because that is the backbone to building wealth in this country,” says Shawn H. Wilson President and CEO of BGCSM. “We understand to make you start-up ready, we have to create an environment of entrepreneurship. It’s not teaching a curriculum, but creating an environment where it helps them understand what it means to be an entrepreneur.”
In 2020, the organization merged with Ponyride, a Detroit nonprofit, and small business incubator, to create a partnership where the nonprofit is only located within BGCSM. Darryl ‘Clue’ Blanding, Co-founder of Clean Sneaker Care, is a part of the Ponyride program and allows start-ups to build their brand with below-market rent costs and help with resources, including capital to grow their business.
“I pretty much utilize everything in the ecosystem. They provide a space for us to house our business that’s cost-effective. Trying to get a space is wildly expensive and for a business that’s still trying to learn itself, once we’re coming out of our infancy stage, we wanted to be somewhere secure, safe and affordable. This was right up our alley,” says Blanding.
The business ecosystem not only works to serve the BGCSM but also its surrounding community. Since its inception, the ecosystem has served 21k youth, families and entrepreneurs served yearly, poured more than $1.8 million into Black, brown, and female-owned entrepreneurs, and assisted 51 small businesses in their endeavors.
“About two and a half years ago, when I took over as CEO, one of the things we sought to do was reimagine the brand and the impact of BGCSM,” says Wilson. “Traditionally known as a safe place for kids, although we value those things, we saw that it was an opportunity to do something greater and have a greater impact.”
The business ecosystem is a part of a trickle-down effect that is reaching even the youngest Detroiter. Able to work on Clean Sneaker Care full-time, the husband and father of two can bring in his children and immerse them in the programs the BGCSM has to offer.
“Part of the Boys and Girls Club program, my son is signed up with t-ball and that’s huge because he can partake in something that’s apart of this entire ecosystem and I’m just in the other room,” says Blanding.
Continuing to spread the impact, BGCSM raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour for ages 18 and over, $10 an hour for ages 14 to 17 for apprentice positions with Apple, PPG, Detroit Is the New Black and others. The organization is also extending the offer to employ entire families, parents included, to help increase economic freedom in Detroit’s most hard-hit and underserved communities.
“As we provide a more livable minimum wage for our organization and for our staff, then we’re able to provide more quality programming, we’re able to increase our staff’s family economic mobility, and being able to do that motivates our teams and provides even more quality programming and, as we say, provide caring and connected adults,” says Tiffany Brightwell-Kimbrough, Vice President of People and Culture at BGCSM, the Human Resources branch of the organization.
In continuing its push for economic mobility, BGCSM is looking for youth ages 14 and up to fill apprentice positions in Fashion, Tech, Marketing, Human Resources, Data Science, and Risk Management. For more information to apply, visit Www.Bgcsm.org
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