By Charles Owens
For Bluefield Daily Telegraph
The city Board of Directors voted unanimously Tuesday to provide a $250,000 allocation toward the creation of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Bluefield. The funds will cover the first year of operations, staffing and renovations for the new Esports center, according to City Manager Cecil Marson.
A site has been selected for the new Esports Center, which will be located inside of the Raleigh Street Cinemas in the area that once housed a game room.
“It’s going to cover the staff and it also covers the renovations of the Esports room and some of the equipment they need as far as some of the stuff for the academic curriculum as well as some other stuff needed for the Esports room,” Marson said of the $250,000 allocation. “But that’s really to give us an operational budget to get to the first year. Of course, as this thing gets underway, there are multiple grants we are working on.”
The Boys and Girls Club of America is a national non-profit that promotes safe, positive and inclusive environments for all children. There will be two full-times staff members and two-part time staffers in Bluefield who will oversee the day-to-day operations of the program, according to Kathrn Kandas, the city’s grants project manager. Kandas has been working with the national Boys and Girls Club of America for several months now on the creation of the new local Bluefield chapter.
“This has absolutely been a labor of love for five plus years,” Kandas said. “And we officially have a name, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Bluefield. Our mission is super simple. To provide middle school aged youth from both Bluefield Middle and Graham Middle with a safe space, caring mentors, healthy meals and snacks and evidence-based programs that support academic success, leadership skills and health and wellness.”
Kandas said the new Bluefield chapter will provide numerous programs for area youth, including academic help and tutoring, participation in the Esports center, and other services designed to help youth engage in positive behavior and nurture their own well-being as well as community enrichment activities.
The services will be provided after regular school hours and will include summer programming, according to Kandas.
“We’re proposing four weekdays, and one weekend day, approximately 20 hours a week after school and then summer programming,” Kandas said. “The Boys and Girls Club will be a 501-C non-profit. Initially there will be two full-time staff that will oversee the day-to-day operations plus two part-time staff and volunteers that help provide the programming to youth. The city of Bluefield and Boys and Girls clubs of America have partnered to open this club.”
Kandas said the new Boys and Girls Club of Greater Bluefield now has an established advisory board that will meet monthly.
“Timeline, right now we are finishing the organizational infrastructure,” she said. “The legal paperwork has gone in or is currently being worked on. The location we’ve identified. Once we have the go ahead we will get the social media popped up, developing materials, work with USDA for the food program and then do what we need to do to maintain brand commitment with Boys and Girls Clubs of America.”
Kandas said the new Boys and Girls Club of America has provided Bluefield with Esports equipment valued at more than $10,000.
“We can also write for federal funds, state funds, work with corporate partners that are in the area as well as local foundations,” Kandas said. “And then other private donors, matching campaigns and local fundraisers.”
Kandas provided the city board members Tuesday with a graphic showing what Bluefield’s new Esports center will look like.
“I think middle schoolers would absolutely love to have a play in this,” she said.
Marson said the new Boys and Girls Club of Greater Bluefield chapter should be operational this fall, along with the new Esports center. He said the project has been four years in the making.
“And of course, you know, when we started this conversation it wasn’t far off the tail of COVID,” Marson said. “We all know COVID was an extremely challenging time here for the kids who were home. So we had some lost years there with some of the academic challenges, and this is a pretty — honestly a pretty historic event here — to get this thing off the ground and get the Boys and Girls Club of the Greater Bluefield. So I’m extremely appreciative to the board and all our hard work.”
Marson said the $250,000 will be money that is well spent.
“This is a significant investment from the city,” Marson said. “$250000 is not insignificant, but I think it’s money well placed. It’s going towards our kids and getting them to where they need to go to be successful. So I’m really happy and really appreciate that we are finally to this point that we can make this thing happen and get it rolling.”
Vice Mayor Peter Taylor called for a motion Tuesday to approve the $250,000 allocation, which was made by board member Daniel Wells and seconded by Matt Knowles. Mayor Ron Martin and board member Treyvon Simmons were absent.
Equipment for the new Esports center started arriving earlier this year, according to Marson. That equipment has included computers, gaming systems and other items that will be needed for online competitive play.
Esports, or electronic sports, is an organized and competitive form of online gaming both for teams and individuals. Esports tournaments are growing in popularity across the nation, particularly among young people, who often compete for college scholarships through the online tournaments.
According to the website of the Boys and Girls Club of America, the agency supports a network of more than 5,500 local clubs and reaches more than 4 million children and youth each year, providing safe spaces, caring mentors, healthy meals and snacks, and evidence-based programs that support academic success, leadership skills, and health and wellness.
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