BGCTC’s Issues Statement Against Racism and Discrimination

A statement to Friends, Families, and Supporters of Boys & Girls Clubs of Thurston County.

Everything Boys & Girls Clubs work toward centers on valuing and supporting the lives and experiences of youth. We cannot achieve our mission to help youth realize their greatness without standing in solidarity with Black people and people of color against structures of institutional racism.

The killings of Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Elijah McClain, and Breonna Taylor have prompted many individuals and organizations to recognize the deep pervasiveness of racism in our society. Boys & Girls Clubs of Thurston County regrettably acknowledges that conversations about race and identifying the impacts of racism in our organization are long overdue. It is important that we examine these issues and do better.

Working from this realization, we turned our attention to the emotional well-being of our staff. Along with our Director of Operations and staff at each branch, we began conversations about how racism affects the lives of our colleagues and the communities we serve. These conversations made it clear that our staff, their families, Club members, and Club families do not feel supported and are looking to find justice, trust, safety, affirmation, and a place to share their stories of living in this time and crisis. This feedback illustrates the fact that our organization must do more.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Thurston County is ready to take a long, serious look at our organization – policies, representation, training, fee structures, practices, social and emotional safety, hierarchy, values, and more – and ask what we can do to combat racism and inequality and where changes can and must be made. The next step for our organization is to convene a group of staff, parents, teen members, and board members to lead the organization forward. Representation from all Club branches and input from and dialog with all staff will guide and inform this group.

Our organization has work to do. This statement affirms that Black Lives Matter, articulates our intention to unlearn biases stemming from systemic racism that cause harm, and is meant to ensure accountability into the future.

Visit BGCTC.org for regular updates and please contact us with questions.

Sincerely,

—Chris Woods, CEO Boys & Girls Clubs of Thurston County
—Whitney Holm, Board President, Boys & Girls Clubs of Thurston County

Click here to view this statement in pdf format.