Boys & Girls Clubs Opening New Centers In Cleveland

CLEVELAND — The Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland will expand into two new locations in 2020, both on the city's west side. The organization will re-launch a club at Lincoln-West High School and open a club at Joseph M. Gallagher Elementary.

The club at Walton School will be moved to Gallagher Elementary, on Franklin Boulevard, to give kids more space and to serve a larger student population. There will also be wraparound social services available at the facility provided through the Say Yes to Education Cleveland Initiative.

“We are truly excited about the opportunity to serve the kids and families at Gallagher,” said Ron Soeder, interim president of the Clubs of Cleveland. “Walton has been one of our strongest Clubs, and the same leadership that inspired so much loyalty there will now be at Gallagher. We think the neighborhood will welcome us.”

Lincoln-West had its own club two years ago, but was merged into the club at Luiz Munoz Marin School. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland wanted to relaunch their programming at Lincoln-West, which is also a Say Yes School.

Both the Lincoln-West and Gallagher clubs will open in January, though an exact date for opening has not been selected, a club official said.

Walton club staffer Natasha Arroyo will be site director at Gallagher, while Michael Cook, the former wraparound coordinator at Lincoln-West High, will be site director for the teen center.