Weekly Media Roundup: October 12, 2016

New Boys and Girls Clubhouse Opens in Downtown Bellevue (Bellevue Reporter, Washington)

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Bellevue expanded their reach with a newly constructed Clubhouse downtown. The 27,000-square-foot Clubhouse, which opened October 6th, includes a gym, tech lab, teaching kitchen, games room, tween/teen space, community room, education center and a preschool, according to the Bellevue Reporter. Currently the dozen Boys & Girls Clubs of Bellevue locations serve about 14,000 youths, but this new building will allow them to expand services. “It will allow us to improve the quality of existing programs and enable the Club to keep pace with the growing population and needs of downtown Bellevue by serving nearly double the kids we currently serve in the old downtown Club,” CEO Kathy Haggart said.

Grammy Winner Gives Back (Florida Times-Union, Florida)

Grammy-winning jazz drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. is spreading his love of music to students in Jacksonville’s Riverside and Brooklyn communities through his nonprofit Don’t Miss a Beat. The organization runs afterschool tutoring, a summer camp and music programs out of two community centers in town, aiming to blend art, academic achievement and civic engagement. “He gives us advice about life,” 13-year-old Treston Lawson told the Florida Time- Union. “He gets us pumped up when we are down. He gives us hope.” Fourteen students in the program will perform a Whitney Houston number at the TEDxJacksonville conference on October 22nd.

Financial Literacy: Helping Kids Know What to Do About Money (Youth Today)

A nonprofit is helping young people learn how to manage their paychecks, handle student loans and keep financial obstacles from derailing their lives. Moneythink partners high school students with college mentors on 30 college campuses to help develop financial literacy, especially among low-income students. The teens learn how to choose a bank, use their credit cards safely and wisely and avoid basic financial problems. “If we can prevent a lot of these mistakes in the first place, then on the whole we can create a society that’s better off,” Moneythink CEO Ted Gonder told Youth Today.

MidAmerica Industrial Park Announces $1.2 Million STEM Investment in Area School Districts (Tulsa World, Oklahoma)

MidAmerica Industrial Park will put more than $1 million towards improving STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education in five Tulsa school districts. Schools will be able to use the money to build and improve STEM centers, whether it is by refurbishing already existing computer labs or building all-new centers to deliver tech-focused afterschool programs and in-school lessons. “Ultimately, our goal is to create a pipeline of highly trained workers who possess the skills, attitudes and characteristics needed by our employers,” Chief Administrative Officer David Stewart told the Tulsa World. The investment will provide at least five years of maintenance costs for the labs, as well as infrastructure and curriculum.