Sponsors

Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) offer programs and services to promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging, and influence. BGCA Clubs are safe places to learn and grow -- all while having fun. The mission of BGCA is to inspire and enable all young people to realize their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring individuals. Boys & Girls Clubs of America especially focuses on those from disadvantaged circumstances, as evidenced by the hundreds of Clubs in public housing.

More than 25 national programs are available in the areas of education, the environment, health, the arts, careers, alcohol/drug and pregnancy prevention, gang prevention, leadership development. and athletics. In the late 1990s, BGCA launched Operation Connect, a multifaceted and comprehensive effort to bridge the digital divide and bring the latest technologies to BGCA members nationwide. Thanks to Compaq Computer Corporation and the partners of Power Up -- America Online, Gateway, and Sun Microsystems -- technology centers were created and outfitted in BGCA sites across the nation.

In 1999, BGCA asked the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to develop a state-of-the-art Internet safety education program. The NetSmartz Workshop provides BGCA with age-appropriate, interactive activities that use the latest 3-D and web technologies to entertain kids ages while they educate. In March 2001 the NetSmartz Workshop content was rolled out to 50 BGCA sites nationwide for pilot-testing, with plans to release it to all Clubs nationwide over the course of the next five years.