Boys & Girls Club Of Oklahoma County Expands In NE Oklahoma City

The Boys and Girls Club of Oklahoma County along with Restore OKC recently opened their first permanent site helping parents navigate the childcare crisis.

Teena Belcik with the Boys and Girls Club of Oklahoma County said the pandemic showed them there was an even greater need in Northeast OKC.

Now, Polk Elementary school, which was closed for years, is back to serving kids on the east side of Oklahoma City.

“We made so many changes this is unrecognizable,” Belcik said.

The Boys and Girls Club partnered with Restore OKC to open the new site. Belcik said this was a $2 million project.

“We had been serving youth from the northeast side from our Memorial Park site for many years, but it’s not part of this community,” Belcik said.

This club is near Northeast 36th and Prospect. Corey Holman was born and raised in NE OKC.

“Normally when you wanted to go to any great program you had to travel outside of the eastside city limits to be part of these projects. Now families are able to come they don’t have to travel far to be part of such a great program,” Holman said.

Now kids are within walking distance from a facility that offers new opportunities like ballet, soccer, and flag football. There’s also a Best Buy teen tech center, the only one in Oklahoma.

“It just opens the kids up to stem projects and hopefully it has a great impact on their lives,” Holman said.

The Boys and Girls Club of Oklahoma County said it was also important for students to learn about OKC trailblazers.

“All of these people have done a lot of great things for the people on the eastside community,” Holman said.

In 2008, there were 6,000 licensed child providers in Oklahoma. This year, that number is closer to 2,300 according to the Child Care Resource and Referral Association,

“The cost has gone up so much between the labor shortage and just inflation in general. It’s also sometimes hard to find at any price,” Belcik said.

Belcik said this new site will hopefully provide some relief.

“The fact of the matter that they’re starting to put a lot of emphasis on the east side community speaks wonders,” Holman said.

The center is currently partnering with three schools. They plan to fully open later this year.