Ross Power Hour

An Academic Program with Proven Track-Record

Did you know?

Nationally, three out of ten youth will not graduate from high school. Studies show that regular participation in after-school educational programs can help address the high-school dropout crisis by enabling youth to engage in learning and achieve academic success.

What Alameda Boys & Girls Club is Doing About It!

• Because of generous funding from Ross Stores, we have incorporated Ross Power Hour into our daily programming. Experienced staff and volunteers help with all levels of homework and projects. Members have access to our Technology Center to use computers for homework and project research, writing, production, and printing.
• We also provide one-on-one or small group tutoring for members who require additional help with Math concepts and fundamentals and Reading and reading comprehension to complete their homework or projects.
• In addition, we provide High School academic tutoring to help our teens maintain GPAs at the required level for participation in high school extracurricular activities like sports, drama, music, etc.

How We Do It

• Over 100 members each day are divided into grade specific groups: 1^st-3^rd grade, 4^th-5^th grade, and 6^th grade & Up and rotated in and out of designated classrooms over a two-hour period.
• We work with parents and teachers to identify areas needing improvement and focus on those areas.
• We provide the following incentives for our younger members:
  • Club Bucks and Auction: Each time youth complete homework and project assignments they receive a Club buck. These bucks can be redeemed at a monthly auction to “purchase” various items.
  • Tracking Posters: Ross Power Hour provides posters that we display in each classroom that track daily homework completion by each youth.
  • Awards: Based on tracking and academic achievement and/or improvement, we present a Power Hour Youth of the Month framed certificate and prize to a selected member each month.

Why We Do It: Impact of Program

In addition to keeping our kids competitive, raising their self-esteem, and providing a love of learning, Alameda Boys & Girls Club has been able to mirror the overall success of the National Boys & Girls Club survey:

• Students that attend Power Hour experience a 15% increase in GPA
• 90% graduate from high school or obtain a GPA

The JASON Project was started in 1989 by Dr. Robert Ballard, the oceanographer who discovered the wreck of the RMS Titanic. The JASON Foundation for Education was founded in 1990 as a non-profit organization to administer the project. The Foundation partners with the National Geographic Society and the Sea Research Foundation.

The project is named for Jason, the explorer from Greek mythology. The name also refers to the Jason remotely operated vehicle which was used in several early JASON Project programs.

Our Club members and students from surrounding schools will be studying Monterey Bay and their “expedition” will be to the rocky California coast. This educational program focuses on the marine and coastal ecosystems, human impact on the environment, and ocean conservation. Participants discover how marine and coastal life adapts to the dynamic forces that affect the Monterey Bay ecosystem. They explore the natural resources that these ecosystems provide and the technology used to study them. Hands on activities, field research ,data collection, and wildlife observation are used to analyze the health, value, and conservation of the Monterey Bay area. Club members will also live-stream in real-time with underwater scientists to ask questions about their research expeditions on the famed Nautilus.

Visit the JASON Project website »

• Fitness through high- and low- impact recreation and sports
• Medical through free dental, vision, and respiratory screenings and access to follow-up care
• Emotional through individual, group, and family counseling
• Nutrition and wellness through our healthy cooking and organic, sustainable garden programs

Over 70% of the children we serve are living at or below the poverty line and over 40% come from single-parent households. Many are from a formerly homeless or domestic violence background and a percentage come from families suffering from obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

We know, both anecdotally and statistically, that this population suffers from a lack of basic services available to them in an easily accessible way. We have seized an opportunity to find new and creative ways to offer accessibility and convenience for a variety of youth needs. In addition to the traditional youth programs that are offered at nearly all of the Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the nation, we have recognized that there are a significant lack of services for the children and families in our immediate community. Dental, vision, and medical services are several miles away; the closest grocery store offering fresh food is over a mile away and across a very busy thoroughfare. Very few youth sports programs and city-sponsored programs are offered due to a lack of suitable fields and parks nearby. Most of our population does not own automobiles and years of reductions in public transportation severely limits accessibility.
The Club is expanding our role to deal with these deficiencies and provide for the “whole” child. In addition to our dental screening program, we have added a mobile asthma and respiratory clinic that visits twice a month, a vision clinic, and in partnership with Alameda Family Services, offer individual, group, and family counseling. Our kitchen and Get Cooking program and the upcoming, organic, sustainable garden and Get Growing program bring a knowledge and appreciation of fresh food to the community and will allow us to eventually package that fresh food for distribution to the families we serve.

In addition to our own active sports, recreation, and fitness programs we partner with all the youth sports organization in the city. We provide them with on-site office space, gymnasium use, and hosting registration events by offering opportunities for local children to enroll in a variety of youth sports programs and participate in those enriching activities. We remain committed to creating an environment where the children we serve have access to all the services and programs necessary to ensure they grow up healthy in body, mind, and spirit.

View photos form the event! »

View highlight reel »

A special thank you to all our supporters:

Elvis Spijodic fled with his family at age eight from a war-ravaged Bosnia after witnessing unspeakable atrocities. He landed in a poverty-stricken city in California rife with gangs and tried to fit into a new culture, make friends, and attend a new school without knowing a word of English.

Life changed dramatically when his family moved to Alameda and Elvis joined the Alameda Boys & Girls Club. He went from an overweight, shy, and troubled kid to a healthy, physically active one with a joyful sense of humor and high sense of self-esteem. He learned basketball and ended up coaching Club sports. He loved learning and ended up helping Club kids with homework and school projects. Elvis is now a valued Club staff member and because of his hard work, leadership, and achievement, he was just awarded our 2013 Youth of the Year Award. He will graduate from Encinal High School in June, 2013.

Elvis credits his transformation to Alameda Boys & Girls Club and wants to give back to honor the place that changed his life: “One day I hope to return to Bosnia and open a Boys and Girls Club for the kids there, so they will have a safe place to go and to have fun, a place I didn’t have when I was living there and was their age. This club has inspired me to be a better person. Now I want to inspire others.  I want to better myself and my family. I want to bring honor to my family. I want to go to college. I know they will be proud of me when I walk across my high school stage in June, and I will strive to make them even more proud when I graduate from college with a degree. I will be the first in my family to do so.”