Mission & Vision
Our Mission
Our Future
​“To enrich and enhance the quality of life for young people by providing educational and developmental programs, with special emphasis on youngsters between the ages 6-18 who come from disadvantaged or disenfranchised circumstances.”
Our Vision
We exist to assist young people in realizing and achieving their potential for growth and development utilizing our state-of-the-art facilities, trained and motivated staff, and nationally renowned programs to produce positive contributors to society.
To BEKB means
Always showing up for yourself and for others. It means making friends and encouraging each one toward their potential. It means arriving with optimism and leaving Kips Bay as a stronger, kinder, and smarter individual.
At Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, our vision is to empower young people to realize and achieve their full potential, equipping them with the skills needed to thrive in a complex world. We recognize the significant challenges facing our community:
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A 2012 report by the Annenberg Institute revealed that 90% of the 5 Bronx neighborhoods we serve are not college-ready by high school graduation.
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In 2013, only 26.4% of 3rd-8th graders met proficiency standards in English Language Arts in New York State, with a troubling 15.85% in School District 8.
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The United States Surgeon General reported a 15% obesity rate among school-age children, with Jacobi Medical Center noting 50% obesity among its pediatric patients.
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The Bronx is the most diverse county in the U.S., as highlighted by the 2010 Census.
Based on the challenges listed above, we know that we need to be doing even more to address our community’s changing needs. We will strengthen and increase high school, vocational, and college preparatory programming with activities in career awareness and mentoring, college readiness and visits, and SAT preparation.
We know from our outcome surveys that membership in Kips Bay correlates strongly with success in school and that students in our local community need our help to prepare them for high school and beyond. We will work to reach more youngsters and bolster educational programming in the vital areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We recently initiated nutrition education and obesity prevention programs. We will continue to expand and enhance this important facet of our programming.
Endowment growth is needed to provide the financial stability to ensure program continuation, proper maintenance and enhancement of our facilities, and the ability to carry out multi-year initiatives. We strive to strengthen our endowment to ensure support for programming of the highest quality in perpetuity in state-of-the-art facilities, allowing us to serve our community for our next 100 years. These actions will support key improvements we hope to make to our facilities, ensuring that our members have access to the best possible athletic and recreational opportunities.
We seek to raise funds to address these key priorities. We undertake these vital projects to better offer our members first-rate facilities and programs to prepare them for all stages of life and their education. The breakdown of our fundraising goal is as follows:
Increased Endowment
Cost: $7,000,000
New educational programming
Cost: $1,500,000
Enhanced Athletic Facilities
Cost: $1,500,000
We have borne witness to the power of philanthropy in action over our first century of service. From our initial founding, we have worked to clean up a troubled neighborhood and provide its youngest citizens with opportunities from across the board. We have been the beneficiary of many of New York’s most committed philanthropists, and we can continue to impact communities in the Bronx for another 100 years with the help of our friends, supporters, and all concerned citizens.