Community guest speakers invited to engage teens in age-appropriate discussions
Oceanside CA— Boys & Girls Clubs of Oceanside (BGCO) believes in diversity and inclusion and promotes these values organization-wide. In keeping with its diversity and inclusion beliefs, BGCO launched a new Youth for Unity program to include and encourage teens to share their experiences surrounding the race and social justice movements unfolding in our society. BGCO hopes that through their participation in this program, teens will be able to promote diversity and embrace inclusion across all aspects of their lives. BGCO launched the new program by hosting two “Teen Talks” at middle school sites.
Prominent speakers in the community were invited to facilitate age-appropriate conversations as they relate to race and social justice movements. The Fall session included speakers, Lt. Valdovinos and Officer Whiterspoon with the Oceanside Police Department; Juan Gaytan, Executive Director of Encuentros Leadership; and Alma Sisco-Smith and Adrianne Pope with North County African American Women’s Association. Lt. Valdovinos emphasized the importance of his conversation with BGCO teens, “it is vital that we, as law enforcement, take every opportunity we can to engage youth and build personal relationships with them.” One teen reflected on the conversation with Oceanside Police Department officers, “I liked that we got to share our stories and what we had experienced.”
The first session of “Teen Talks” concludes with Max Disposti, Executive Director of the North County LGBTQ Resource Center to take place in March.
“We are so incredibly thankful to our speakers and to the Oceanside Community Foundation for helping bring this program to life,” said Boys & Girls Clubs of Oceanside CEO, Jodi Diamond, “we are proud to have brought the program to BGCO teen members who are seeing and experiencing these movements unfold in real-time.”
The second session of “Teen Talks” is scheduled for Spring 2022, with new guest speakers and topics. Boys and Girls Clubs of Oceanside’s new Youth For Unity program, which incorporates “Teen Talks”, was made possible thanks to a grant by the Oceanside Community Foundation, an affiliate of The San Diego Foundation.
For more information about Boys & Girls Clubs of Oceanside please contact Jodi Diamond at JDiamond@bgcoceanside.org, call (760) 433-8920, or visit our website BGCOceanside.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
About Boys & Girls Clubs of Oceanside
Boys & Girls Clubs of Oceanside (BGCO), celebrating 70 years of building great futures in Oceanside, is a youth development organization that is dedicated to providing a safe, fun and enriching environment for youth during non-school hours. BGCO remained open to serve youth during the entire pandemic. From May 2020 through August 2021, BGCO’s Emergency Food Program provided more than 55,000 free and nutritious meals to youth under 18 regardless of membership status.
BGCO is a local, nonprofit organization affiliated with Boys & Girls Clubs of America but raises 100% of the funds that support its life-changing programs through individual giving, events and grants. For 70 years, BGCO has continued to uphold its mission to inspire, develop and enrich young people to reach their fullest potential as confident, responsible, caring members of society. To learn more visit www.bgcoceanside.org.
About Oceanside Community Foundation
Oceanside Community Foundation partnered with The San Diego Foundation to create and sustain a local foundation to serve the community of Oceanside. Oceanside Community Foundation’s purpose is to meet emerging needs by encouraging and increasing responsible and effective philanthropy for all who live, work and play in Oceanside; build an Oceanside community endowment to provide funding annually to Oceanside organizations and causes; and give Oceanside community members a vehicle for legacy planning and gifts that will benefit Oceanside, now and forever.