Community Corner
Four Groups Merging To Form Boys & Girls Clubs Of Northeast Ohio
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland, Erie County, Lorain County and the Western Reserve are forming a singular organization.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland, Erie County, Lorain County and the Western Reserve (Akron) have merged to form the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio. This is one of the largest Boys & Girls Clubs mergers in the nation.
The combined group will serve nearly 8,500 kids in four counties. The Clubs will maintain separate organizational identities, run 36 sites, and have a total budget of about $11 million. The merger went into effect on Monday.
The four merging Clubs have a total of 334 employees, including 87 full-time workers. There are no plans for layoffs, Boys & Girls Clubs leaders said.
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The new organization will be run by a board with representatives from all four Clubs. Local boards will shift to an advisory role focused on community needs. Donors will still be able to direct their funds to local Clubs or to a general region.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America organization has been encouraging mergers among local chapters and has committed to investing $350,000 in the new Northeast Ohio organization. The goal of local mergers is to boost membership, standardize programming and stabilize the financial standing of individual clubs.
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Ron Soeder has been named interim president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio. He has headed the Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland 13 years. He will serve as interim leader of the combined groups while a permanent CEO is looked for.
“This merger gives us the opportunity to serve more kids and develop deeper programming,”
Soeder said. “All four of the merging Club are financially strong and well-run, and combining
our forces will enable us to scale our best practices, streamline operations and be more
cost-efficient – all to serve and support more kids."
Two Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland subsidiaries will join the new organization through the merger: the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance and Open Arts. The former works to stem violence in Cleveland, while Open Arts provides music, art, dance and theater programming.
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