BGCTX COVID-19 Response - A Message From CEO, Tiana Quick
As Texas begins to move through their phases of reopening the State, Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Texas continues to assess how these changes will impact our operations. We want to ensure that we are keeping our youth, families, and staff, safe at all times. On May 18th, 2020, Governor Abbott announced that youth centers like ours could reopen with strict guidelines. Our Clubs have been opened and we have been serving the youth of mission essential personnel. With this announcement, we will be able to serve all youth again, just not at full capacity. We will have to maintain small groups to ensure that activities provide social distancing, therefore our 1:8 ratio per room will remain in place. We will also continue taking the temperatures of all youth and staff who enter our facilities, while limiting guest access, parents, and volunteers. We will continue screening individuals for symptoms and exposure in the previous 14 days, wearing masks, and maintaining strict group settings and sanitation procedures. Unfortunately, what also will not change, is the weekly fee we have established to maintain this level of low ratios and sanitation processes.
So, what does this mean?
Yes, we are open! But while we are limited to small groups, this means that our facilities will only be able to accept a certain number of youth. If you are interested in your child participating, please go to our website at www.bgctx.org and fill out a membership form. Even if your child previously attended our Clubs, a new membership form will still be necessary for enrollment during this period of time. If the Club you are enrolling in has reached its capacity, the Club Director will place you on a waiting list and keep you updated.
When will this change?
Unfortunately, I don’t have that answer. This pandemic has been difficult to predict and has made it impossible to plan and be proactive. We will continue to evaluate the response from our Governor, his task force, and local health officials to determine what steps we will take and when.
What will our summer programs look like?
While it is still a priority for our members to have fun this summer, we will also be putting a much greater emphasis on preventing summer learning loss and we will be rolling out a vigorous academic program.
Although field trips will not likely be a part of this year’s summer programming, we plan to bring in as many unique and exciting opportunities as we can. Fun has not been canceled!
We hope to see you all soon, we are eager to get back to doing what we do best; Building Great Futures! In the meantime, be healthy and stay safe
Sincerely,.JPG)
Tiana Quick | Chief Executive Officer | Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Texas | tquick@bgctx.org