August 19, 2023 • 30 mins
Kevin Hattery is the president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston and Tobi Shonowo is one of their Club Directors. Registering only costs $10 for the whole year and Tobi explains the mountain of awesome opportunities available to campers. 25 clubs in the Houston area are open everyday after school where they feed all comers and don’t take roll! Parents can bring their children once a week or everyday and know there will be great food, education – including homework support and workforce readiness training – and awesome activities in clean, safe facilities. Tobi’s club even has a full-fledged kitchen. There is also a game room with consoles and all that. It's a great place for kids and teens. Go to www.bgcgh.org to sign up or contribute.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:06):
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston'sPublic Affairs show, an iHeartMedia broadcast.
Our disclaimer says that the opinions expressedon this show do not necessarily reflect those
held by this radio station, itsmanagement staff, for any of its advertisers.
My name is Laurant. I amthe Texan from France, and it's
(00:27):
not just as a foreigner that I'mhorrified at the literacy rate of children in
Houston. You probably don't know this, but if you were to take a
hundred random names from hid's third graderoles, you would find that just about
thirty of those children in third gradesare actually capable of reading at the third
grade level. That means that seventypercent, and let's face it's a little
(00:49):
over than that. In some neighborhoods, over seventy percent of third graders are
moved on to the fourth grade withoutactually knowing how to read at the third
grade level. And illiteracy is themain cause of not being able to get
a job. It's hard to bea restaurant manager, which is a great
job, but you have paperwork todo, so you might be able to
count on starting with your hands anddoing entry level jobs and maybe get away
(01:15):
with not reading, and then youbump up against those pressures to maybe be
a parent and to need more money, and you want to graduate to a
better job and you can't because youdon't know how to read it. The
number of people who are functionally illiterateis colossal. These are people you will
know are illiterate because they can reada menu. They've learned how to navigate
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the world without knowing how to read. Obviously, not knowing how to read
is not an indication of your intellect. It's just a failure of education.
And we know that because it's veryeasy to teach grown ups to read.
They're wonderful programs that do that.Literacy Now all that I mean, you
can be seventy five, moved tothis country, not speak the language and
learn how to read it. It'snot a real problem. We know how
(01:57):
to do it, but we likethe will to actually do anything about it.
And my guest today are a recurringtheme on my show because it's the
Boys and Girls Club of Great Houstonand they were on the show a few
months ago. Kevin Hattery is theirpresident and CEO, and we talk about
that. We talk about how theyprovide after school programs that I believe their
(02:20):
graduation rate among their kids is abouteighty nine percent, which means that if
you take these kids that are senton to the next grade badly educated,
and you put them in a programwith good mentors and a great education program,
they do fine. Again, proofthat there's absolutely nothing wrong with the
kids. And we'll talk about thattoo, because with Kevin is Toby Shoonoo.
(02:42):
He is a club director, andwe're going to talk about his experience
proving every day that if you justput a good mentor in front of a
kid, that kid is going tobe a good kid, because it really
is our nature. The exceptions ofthis rule are so few and far between
that it would never be a problem. We can immediately identify the psychos and
sequester them if that's necessary. WhatI'm saying is that the vast majority of
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these kids just need a little attentionand a little bit of good, good
parenting and good and good mentoring.Because all around us is a complete dearth
of discipline. We just don't lookout for kids the way we used to.
If you're interested in this topic whilewe talk about it, go to
their website. The Boys and GirlsClub of Greater Houston is online at BGC
(03:30):
dot org, bgcgh dot org.Kevin am I right, is it about
eighty nine percent of your campers andpupils go on to graduate from high school?
But of course that's that has toaccount for the fact that some of
your kids don't self report they moveon to other cities, so we can
(03:50):
assume it's higher than that. Really, Laurent, thank you very much for
the opportunity for Boys and Girls ClubGreater Houston to be back. And you
know, when we're thinking about backto school time, that's when we start
to think about this number, ifyou will, of eighty nine percent.
That's what the number of young peoplethat come through our programs that are reporting
that they're going on to graduate fromhigh school. Yeah, and that's the
(04:12):
next step that you really want tobe taking when you consider what's next in
life. And so when you thinkabout what we're doing to prepare for,
it's we want young people that aregraduating to either enroll in a program some
sort of certificate two four year college, we want them to be employed with
a sustainable living wage, or wewant them to enlist in a military institution.
(04:39):
So it's to be productive at thatpoint moving forward, and that's what
we call our life workforce readiness efforts. So does the military work with you
to come and make presentation and youknow, bring up that career path to
the pupils. Yeah, so whenwe when we're preparing young people think about
life and work frustrating. So wehave opportunities for young people to explore or
(05:00):
what it's like to have an apprenticeshipin a certain industry, to having young
people meet with those from a militarypresence that's in our community. Well,
the military is another example of excellence. It is very rare when a soldier
in list and comes out not agreat soldier. Again, because the average
person can be given the if giventhe opportunity to excel, they will.
(05:25):
That's that's the average the human.The average human will excel, which is
an awesome average. We should bereally hopeful about that. So you're yeah,
you're bringing in just a bunch ofexample of excellence and career paths that
will require these these students to keepstudying. So that's that's what you're doing.
You're encouraging them. It's it's lifewe reference eat now is is life
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and workforce readiness and so whether youchoose to and listen to the military,
become employable, and we wanted tomake sure that it's a sustainable wage or
enroll on a program preparing for youngpeople to take those next steps. So
these programs that these camps that youhave, they're essentially big, sophisticated after
(06:06):
school programs, and the price tojoin is exorbitant. It's ten dollars,
y'all. Are it's it's one ofthe most amazing things. You're essentially asking
families to put in a symbolic coin, so to speak. It's it's not
very high. You're serving a lotof poor people, some of whom have
a lot of kids, and youeven offer scholarships for them. The whole
(06:28):
point being that you're actually asking parentsto make an effort to sort of put
a little bit of skin in thegame because the program is worth it.
Just like the digital divide that wereally talked about during the pandemic or a
food desert, there's yeah, there'sa lot of communities without out of school
time programming, and so we're steppinginto that gap and we fulfill that So
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through the generosity of our donors,whether they're individuals or corporations or foundations were
able to provide this opportunity for familiesand young people that don't have the resources,
and so then they get they're outof school time experience, and so
we're there to complement what happens duringthe school day and a fun, safe
(07:14):
place for the kids to go toafter that point. And so I would
just say to any of your listenersout there, if they could just go
to our website at bgcgh dot org, they're going to find that we have
twenty five clubs in the Greater Houstonregion and an opportunity for to sign your
child up and get involved and theyhave a place to go during that after
school time period. So you're gettinga lot of private sector money, which
(07:36):
speaks again to the generosity of Houston. It's a philanthropic town and we should
be proud of that. Do youalso mentioned that there's an instrance program which
will pay the stipend to the clubif they're enrolled in that program. What
is that? Yeah, it's theTexas Shodan's Health Plan and so as part
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of their sponsor to ship to us, one that's had rolled in in their
and their insurance can come at nocost to our organization and ten. Yeah.
Now, obviously if you were chargingten dollars per pupil to put up
a club, you wouldn't even beable to afford the air conditioning. But
these are these are really full fledgedclubs. And Toby Shownoo is a club
(08:20):
director first and foremost. Do youconsider yourself to be a mentor? Obviously
your responsibility for the clubs are differentfrom that. It's piled onto that.
But the impression I got from meetingyou just a few minutes ago is that
you you like working with these kids. You want to be a good example
to them. Yes, sir,you know I see my role as almost
(08:43):
a big brother or mentor that Iwanted our hat as a kid. I'm
able to give back and that's onething that really makes this role very rewarding.
Also my ability and capacity to beable to assess, assist our young
people really striving for their dreams,finding new interests, exploring their talents,
(09:05):
and really becoming the best version ofthemselves. Yeah. So the idea that
you can excel at and finding outwhat you're good at. So you're dealing
with all these kids or young peoplewho come into your club and they're they're
shy. Probably what is the averagepupil like when they come to you?
Okay, so smiling big, thisis It's one of the fun things,
(09:30):
right because you know, the youngman the young woman who comes in on
that first day is completely different fromthe young person you'll know two weeks from
them, right right. I justthat to me that it's just awesome.
So go ahead. So my clubI started specifically teen teenagers and eighth grade
through twelfth grade, and the averageage they start around like fourteen, So
(09:54):
on their first day as an eighthgrader, they're really reserved, quiet to
themselves. I ask a lot ofquestions just to try to get to know
them. You get one word answers. Yeah. Sometimes I've learned to become
more creative with like my you know, tactics as far as asking. We
do like fun games like do youlike strawberry pop tarts or bound sugar cinnamon
(10:16):
pop tarts? And we always discusswhy. We have a whole debate of
otherwise over why strawberry pop tarts andI'm saying this are better than uh sugar
cinnamon. I don't know why there'sa debate. You're right, exactly,
thank you. But from there,I know I'm a very animated person,
so I show a very kind,kind phase, kind presence. I'm always
(10:41):
like that. Twenty four seven.My staff, you know, I've kind
of rubbed off on them as well. So and speaking on my staff,
you know, they're really wonderful.They bring a lot of We're really well
rounded as a team, so we'reable to approach and you know, really
make our young new members feel comfortableas well as or our members that have
been with us for a while.So within the first couple of weeks,
(11:05):
our new eighth grade as they figureout that, okay, this is a
pretty fun place to be. Ican be a little comfortable. I can
kick my feet up, and youknow, you know, maybe try some
of those strawberry pop tarts and youyeah, right, you change your mind
and get get you an immigation andget some pump tarts. Uh. Y'all
are working in air conditioning environments too, but you have a bunch of facilities,
(11:28):
right. I guess the club isa is a matter of seduction to
right the kid, the kids,the young people when they come in.
I say kids and young people.You deal with teenagers, but you also
serve younger kids. Right, SoI'm accurate by I'm not completely off the
mark. Okay, So then thesekids come in and they see the amenities
(11:50):
that are available to them. Whatdo they see? What are some of
the things that are out for themto use and play with? Okay,
Well, speaking on my clubs specifically, we have fully functioning kitchen. We
love to cook. The kids lovecooking. They get to explore like healthy
you know, healthy meal options.They get to learn and explore that field
(12:11):
of culinary. We have a wonderfultechnology room with a lot of computers max.
We have podcasting equipment as well,cameras, you know, digital creativity,
it's all there. We have awonderful game room. We play pool,
ping pong, video games, especiallythe latest you know, the PlayStation
five and everything. They're all overthat. Yeah, isn't that the first
(12:33):
thing they want to do. Imean it's hypnotic, right, we know,
it's like they're awesome. Video gamesare awesome. That's it's a bit
of a problem. And lastly,we have a wonderful you know, gym
facility, outdoor pavilion, so weget to play like outdoor basketball, sports,
everything and really just encourage that Uyou know that healthy lifestyle aspect.
(12:54):
Yeah, Now listen, folks,you can have access to this for your
children for ten bucks. That's howthat's how you register. You go to
the website. Boys and Girls Clubof Greater Houston is online at BGCGH dot
org bgcgh dot org. You're givingyour kid access to an air condition environment
for the summer, but also analtdoor pavilion. They're doing cooking, physical
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activity, and intellectual activity. Honestly, you could stop at cooking and I'd
be in for I mean, that'sI'm French. That's all that matters to
me. But you're, yeah,it's very well rounded. You're kind of
you're and you're giving them access tothis education in a way that they probably
don't have access to at home.Most most people don't cook much. You
are listening to Houston PA, Houston'sPublic Affairs show. My name is Laurent.
(13:39):
My guests are here from the Boysand Girls Club of Greater Houston.
Kevin Hattery is their president and CEO, and Toby Shoonoo is a club director.
Once again, BGCGH dot org,BGCGH dot org. Toby, I'm
not kidding. I am French,and I'm particularly interesting in the in the
(14:00):
culinary arts, because not only doI admire them as an art form,
you can really create amazing food.But the truth is that by learning all
that stuff, you learn how tojust pan fry a chicken breast and salte
some vegetables, or maybe just usea crock pot, which is probably the
easiest and safest way to cook athome. It's so easy. A croc
(14:20):
pot is inexpensive. You can getone for relatively cheap, and once you
know how to use it, man, you can just make food for a
huge family. So we're obviously dealingwith a pandemic of obesity and bad eating
habits. Is your program designed to, I guess, shine a line on
the fact that it's not all thathard to eat healthy. If you learn
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how to cook, you do haveto spend some time doing it, though
there's no way around that, right, You're gonna have to spend some time
in front of the pan. Butso what do you decide? What do
they learn how to cook and howdo you bring them to the stove?
Are they naturally interested in it?So our teenage members they they love food
any any form or shape, butit's mostly in in accordance with our partnership
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with the Houston Food Bank, wehost bimonthly food pantries to serve our community
as well. So some of thetimes we like to take some of the
items off of that food truck andprepare a meal that we see. Our
kids are always using you know,social media and TikTok to find different recipes,
very creative, and we try tofind healthier options. We focus on
(15:31):
food safety as well, Yeah,so that we know that we're not you
know, minimizing any food borne illnesses, as well as practicing proper kitchen etiquette
as well as portion, portion size. We want to make sure that we
balance a healthy meal with physical activityto make sure we have a healthy minded
body. Holy moly. So youyou get them to cook a meal and
(15:54):
then you send them outside to playbasketball or something like that, pretty much
idea. How much does that stick? Do you? Do? You know,
if if if your students, yourclub members actually take that culinary experience
the expertise at home and they tryto make those things at home or they
(16:14):
do of I've actually had over theyears of I've had members that they really
didn't have any experienced cooking. Theylearned some you know, different techniques and
some meal recipes from the club tookit home and cook dinner for their whole
families. I even have some thatactually went into culinary as a quicker.
It's great to leave one in particularly, he just finished up his culinary certific
(16:37):
servocation, so he's a full blownchef now. So it's a rewarding experience
and it's just a you know,fur their you know, validation that you
know, we're doing the right thingto serve our our young children. So
real quick. So what are someof the recipes they find on their social
media that they like to try?So there was one we did the hot
(17:00):
cheeto covered monzreelistic, You're gonna gety'all get to play basketball twice today after
eating that probably three times. Thatwasn't that wasn't the healthiest. You're not
kidding, but just really exploring thecreativity we've we've gone as far as like
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the scope we've got gone from chefsalads to baked chicken, the fried chicken,
just trying different things, different cookingtechniques, just to give them a
wide variety of you know, howto you know, get a get a
cooking and fishing you know, isthat you mentioned that when the pupils come
in, they're kind of reserved andyou know, we're shy or that's just
(17:42):
the nature of things. Uh,isn't the cooking lesson away to Because you're
you're kind of bumping into each other, You're you're sharing responsibilities. It seems
like one of the most sociable thingsyou can do. Uh. There's no
adversity obviously, because everybody gets apeace. It's not like it's like a
sport. Is that one of yourtricks. It's a really good team building
(18:07):
exercise and activity. We tend totake that same method and apply to our
other program areas, especially when itcomes to like our youth leadership program.
I'm gonna touch into that our Keystoneprogram, which is our ultimate team program
built around team leadership and advocacy.Our teams are really close knit group.
(18:30):
They've grown over the years. They'vementored younger members into becoming leaders and serving
their community. That's actually our groupthat actually manages and runs our entire food
pantry program, so they distribute collectdata for our community, and distribute the
food themselves. I'm really just they'remonitoring to make sure they're you know everybody's
(18:53):
safe, but the teams are reallytaking the program and run with it.
So they you bring those in throughthis club, and not only are you
able to help them graduate from highschool, but you're also sending them back
into the community looking out for otherpeople instead of just themselves. It goes
back to what I was said atthe beginning of the show. There's nothing
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wrong with the kids. They justneed to be shown a good example.
The kids like you, so theywant to be like you. Isn't that
that's your Kevin, Isn't that yourstrategy? When you hire somebody like Toby
and put him at the head ofa club, it's like, well,
all the kids are gonna like thisguy. Yeah. Well, and we're
reflective of the community that we live. Yeah. So Toby is a great
example of one of our leaders inthe organization that is really just leading away
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and it's just not with the clubkids, but it's within the community itself.
We're clearly embedded in what's happening becausewe want to be a solution,
and we are part of the solution, and especially here most recently, we
just we stand in the gap whereanytime anything is needed, and once again
Toby and his team and in thecommunity of Wharton. And again we're we're
(20:00):
across five different counties providing these services. So there's a whole lot of Toby's
out there, if you will aspart of our our organization, we've been
talking for a while. You shouldtell us again how many clubs do you
have in the Houston area. Andagain it's it's only ten dollars to join.
So if you go to bgcgh dotorg you can register. And I
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haven't asked you how often can theygo to camp? Is it? Well,
it's it's you register for the forthe fall and you're in the whole
time. And so as a asa parent, if you need support Monday
through Friday, it's they're kidding outof school. If you just wanted on
one day a week or two daysa week, then that's what you do.
(20:41):
It's not like a school system whereyou're expected to show up every day.
And again it's ten ARFs the entireschool, not not not a day,
Just to be clear, it's not, you know, not a day.
And so for your listeners out there, just to remember that there's this
resource and so whether we're talking aboutthe support that we provide and and with
reading and accelerated learning or mental healthwell being, the physical type of activities
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which sports, and we heard Tobytalk about his club specifically, we provide
what's important to keep in mind,we provide meals at all of our clubs
every single day through our partnerships.And then these are other opportunities that we're
helping to create well rounded young people. For example, to learn how to
(21:29):
how to cook yea. We evenhave gardens at at a couple of our
clubs, so we're providing some exposureto people. So as we heard Toby
talk about as like kids are goinghome for the first time and they're they're
cooking and meal and parents were like, how do you know how to do
that? While I'd learned that atthe club, And they'll go home and
they'll say, hey, I let'sgo to the grocery store or the market
and they're looking at caulflower for thefirst What is that? You know?
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Where'd you learn that? It's becausewhile we grow that in the garden,
so different kind of experiences across,but the whole ideas that you know,
we're it's well rounded for the youngpeople that are coming to the clubs one
way or the other, Toby,it might be useful to describe some of
the abject poverty that you see.Some of these kids that come into your
club will not have had breakfast,or they may have had lunch at school,
(22:18):
but they may be going home andnot having dinner. It's not uncommon
at all in our country for people. Do you call it food insecurity?
Uh, it's a very nice wayof saying that we have a bunch of
kids that go hungry all night longand they won't eat again until they get
to school, and sometimes they sleepon the floor. We have shows with
the Houston Furniture Bank all the timetalking about that. We're talking about severe
(22:40):
poverty. So do you do yousee a lot of that? Usually,
very very often people are quiet aboutthose things. But how do you deal
with it? And how do youtry to identify the kids that need extra
help? So normally what I woulddo is if if I did see any
you know, observe any have normalitiesor what was approached by a parent or
(23:02):
anything. Yeah, we actually havea program manager over our Family Engagement Department
that connects us to resources that canhelp our families that we serve. So
we normally go through that channel.We connect the families with the resources,
and then we always follow up tomake sure that they're still doing okay and
if there's any other way that theclub can assist in their current situation.
(23:25):
So basically, when you get theteenagers in in your club, there's food
out and ready for them, andis that the first thing they do is
to grab something to eat and getto the video games. Not typically every
single day that we have cooking,we normally try to like space it out.
A lot of them do to someresearch, especially with the nutrition and
everything, but every every day wefeed our members every single day. You
(23:51):
are listening to Houston PA Houston's PublicAffairs Show. My name is Laurent and
my guests are here from Boys andGirls Club of Greater Houston. Kevin Maatterie
is their president and CEO, andToby show Noo is their club one of
their club directors. You have twentyfive clubs. Yes, the number just
feels really high to me, andI have to repeat this. It's it's
(24:12):
practically free to join the club.For most people, it's ten dollars and
they have a scholarship program which worksfor those I mean if you have a
bunch of kids, it becomes abill, but it's for the whole year.
And as Toby and Kevin have described, if you need, if you're
if you're a teenager, or ifyour child wants to participate in the club's
(24:33):
activities every day, welcome. Ifyou want to come in on Monday only,
welcome. There's I love the freedomthat you're offering. You're you're basically
have an open door policy with someexclusivity to make sure that everybody knows that
it's worth something. And again,eighty nine percent of their kids graduate,
(24:53):
because it would be more if allthe kids self reported, and if we
discounted the ones that move out oftown and you don't hear from them again,
so you can't guarantee that they've they'vegraduated. But the program is a
great success, and you could belike Toby Kevin. You're you have employment
opportunity. I don't know if youcould be quite like Toby, but you
could aim to be like Toby andmaybe with experience and time. He's one
(25:19):
of our rising stars. He's leadingthe way here and a great example for
anybody that's interested in a full timeor part time opportunity. And our organization
again over a five county area fromworking all the way down to Galliston and
in between. So if any ofyour listeners interested, then if you go
to our website at BGCGH dot org, you can find out what careers are
(25:42):
are available. And if you wantto work in this out of school time
space with with young people and youthdevelopment, then we welcome you to reach
out to us and and uh,there's some great opportunities. And the reason
why we're hiring is because we keepgrowing, we keep it spanding. We
need more people to help us asthe need in the demand continues to rise
(26:06):
in our Greater Houston region. Areyou hoping to open more clubs? We
are, Yeah, so that's partof I'm obviously these things are complicated,
but yeah, you're looking at doingthat too. Yeah, we've already got
a couple that opened this summer,another one that's opening this fall, and
then in twenty twenty four another onealready slated to open as well. And
that's what we know about. Yeah, we're fortunate and that again we have
(26:30):
strong collaborative partnerships and when other entitiescome to us and they ask, then
we're going to entertain that conversation,how can we partner and meet a need
and another community. Then we'll dothat. Toby. When you hire somebody
to be a member of your team, what are some of the qualities you're
looking for? Really, just iftheir heart is in it, because it's
(26:52):
not hard work, it's heart work. The passion of serving our young people
in mentoring them to grow up,That's what I really try to look for,
their experience with working with kids before, and then just the overall creativity
because there's no one way to youknow, to cut a cookie. Yeah,
so you have to really just lookat people who are diverse, you
(27:15):
know, have different experiences, differentbackgrounds that can really add to what we
already have. Myself, I lookfor people who are strong in areas that
I'm weak, so that we canbetter support each other and they can support
me and you know, really carryingout our mission as as an organization.
So that's one thing that I lookfor. And then really just a passion
(27:37):
factor like this has to be somethingthat you feel as you're calling because it's
very rewarding at the end of theday. Yeah, I mean, watch
out for those kids, man,they grow up and they take care of
us. After that, and soit's important to get it right. You
it seems like it's a fun job. It sounds like you're fun to work
(28:00):
with, and I've talked to Kevinmany times now. Obviously the programs are
fun for the teenagers and the kids. They free. And also we didn't
mention this, but some of yourcorporate partners are big names that are desirable,
so to speak. It's the Astros, the Cowboys. Wait, no,
it's not the cost Texas. I'mFrench. We sue me, alright,
find wrong city. Then did wehave the Cowboys here for a while.
(28:22):
No, it was always Dallas.It's the Oilers, the freaking oilers
that move and got me confused.I'm gonna kill for saying that, but
yeah, that's one of the thingsthat you'll do. They literally give you
bushels full of tickets and you're ableto take entire clubs to have an amazing
experience. And I know it's amazingbecause I've never been attracted to baseball on
(28:44):
TV. And I went out tothe ballpark one day a minute made and
it was amazing. It was anamazing ambiance. Fathers, sons, families,
very laid back. They don't stop. The game for commercials is just
pure entertainment, and so they haveaccess to things like that too. You
can help them fund more programs.I bet you that if you're a multimillionaire
and you called Kevin Attery and youtold them I want to help you open
(29:07):
a club in this area, youcould probably make something like that happen.
Go to their website BGCGH dot orgbgcgh dot org. You don't have to
be a multimillionaire to give a fewbucks where a community, which means that
if a bunch of us give fivebucks a few dollars, it makes a
huge difference. And that's another wayfor them to maybe open a new club,
(29:27):
or or maybe install a new kitchenand well of the existing clubs so
that they can spread the arts ofeating well wonderful food from scratch. I'm
a big fan, but I'm French. Folks, if you have any questions
related to Houston, PA, youcan send me an email. Texan from
France at gmail dot com. Texanfrom France at gmail dot com. Even
(29:48):
if it's something simple like asking mefor a website. Don't feel dumb.
Just send me an email. I'llbe glad to talk to you and I
want to thank you for carrying inlistening to the issues I put on this
show. My name is Laurent Iam the Texan from France and this has
been Houston PA, Houston's public affairsshow, Houston Strong
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston'sPublic Affairs show, an iHeartMedia broadcast.
Our disclaimer says that the opinions expressedon this show do not necessarily reflect those
held by this radio station, itsmanagement staff, for any of its advertisers.
My name is Laurant. I amthe Texan from France, and it's
(00:27):
not just as a foreigner that I'mhorrified at the literacy rate of children in
Houston. You probably don't know this, but if you were to take a
hundred random names from hid's third graderoles, you would find that just about
thirty of those children in third gradesare actually capable of reading at the third
grade level. That means that seventypercent, and let's face it's a little
(00:49):
over than that. In some neighborhoods, over seventy percent of third graders are
moved on to the fourth grade withoutactually knowing how to read at the third
grade level. And illiteracy is themain cause of not being able to get
a job. It's hard to bea restaurant manager, which is a great
job, but you have paperwork todo, so you might be able to
count on starting with your hands anddoing entry level jobs and maybe get away
(01:15):
with not reading, and then youbump up against those pressures to maybe be
a parent and to need more money, and you want to graduate to a
better job and you can't because youdon't know how to read it. The
number of people who are functionally illiterateis colossal. These are people you will
know are illiterate because they can reada menu. They've learned how to navigate
(01:36):
the world without knowing how to read. Obviously, not knowing how to read
is not an indication of your intellect. It's just a failure of education.
And we know that because it's veryeasy to teach grown ups to read.
They're wonderful programs that do that.Literacy Now all that I mean, you
can be seventy five, moved tothis country, not speak the language and
learn how to read it. It'snot a real problem. We know how
(01:57):
to do it, but we likethe will to actually do anything about it.
And my guest today are a recurringtheme on my show because it's the
Boys and Girls Club of Great Houstonand they were on the show a few
months ago. Kevin Hattery is theirpresident and CEO, and we talk about
that. We talk about how theyprovide after school programs that I believe their
(02:20):
graduation rate among their kids is abouteighty nine percent, which means that if
you take these kids that are senton to the next grade badly educated,
and you put them in a programwith good mentors and a great education program,
they do fine. Again, proofthat there's absolutely nothing wrong with the
kids. And we'll talk about thattoo, because with Kevin is Toby Shoonoo.
(02:42):
He is a club director, andwe're going to talk about his experience
proving every day that if you justput a good mentor in front of a
kid, that kid is going tobe a good kid, because it really
is our nature. The exceptions ofthis rule are so few and far between
that it would never be a problem. We can immediately identify the psychos and
sequester them if that's necessary. WhatI'm saying is that the vast majority of
(03:06):
these kids just need a little attentionand a little bit of good, good
parenting and good and good mentoring.Because all around us is a complete dearth
of discipline. We just don't lookout for kids the way we used to.
If you're interested in this topic whilewe talk about it, go to
their website. The Boys and GirlsClub of Greater Houston is online at BGC
(03:30):
dot org, bgcgh dot org.Kevin am I right, is it about
eighty nine percent of your campers andpupils go on to graduate from high school?
But of course that's that has toaccount for the fact that some of
your kids don't self report they moveon to other cities, so we can
(03:50):
assume it's higher than that. Really, Laurent, thank you very much for
the opportunity for Boys and Girls ClubGreater Houston to be back. And you
know, when we're thinking about backto school time, that's when we start
to think about this number, ifyou will, of eighty nine percent.
That's what the number of young peoplethat come through our programs that are reporting
that they're going on to graduate fromhigh school. Yeah, and that's the
(04:12):
next step that you really want tobe taking when you consider what's next in
life. And so when you thinkabout what we're doing to prepare for,
it's we want young people that aregraduating to either enroll in a program some
sort of certificate two four year college, we want them to be employed with
a sustainable living wage, or wewant them to enlist in a military institution.
(04:39):
So it's to be productive at thatpoint moving forward, and that's what
we call our life workforce readiness efforts. So does the military work with you
to come and make presentation and youknow, bring up that career path to
the pupils. Yeah, so whenwe when we're preparing young people think about
life and work frustrating. So wehave opportunities for young people to explore or
(05:00):
what it's like to have an apprenticeshipin a certain industry, to having young
people meet with those from a militarypresence that's in our community. Well,
the military is another example of excellence. It is very rare when a soldier
in list and comes out not agreat soldier. Again, because the average
person can be given the if giventhe opportunity to excel, they will.
(05:25):
That's that's the average the human.The average human will excel, which is
an awesome average. We should bereally hopeful about that. So you're yeah,
you're bringing in just a bunch ofexample of excellence and career paths that
will require these these students to keepstudying. So that's that's what you're doing.
You're encouraging them. It's it's lifewe reference eat now is is life
(05:45):
and workforce readiness and so whether youchoose to and listen to the military,
become employable, and we wanted tomake sure that it's a sustainable wage or
enroll on a program preparing for youngpeople to take those next steps. So
these programs that these camps that youhave, they're essentially big, sophisticated after
(06:06):
school programs, and the price tojoin is exorbitant. It's ten dollars,
y'all. Are it's it's one ofthe most amazing things. You're essentially asking
families to put in a symbolic coin, so to speak. It's it's not
very high. You're serving a lotof poor people, some of whom have
a lot of kids, and youeven offer scholarships for them. The whole
(06:28):
point being that you're actually asking parentsto make an effort to sort of put
a little bit of skin in thegame because the program is worth it.
Just like the digital divide that wereally talked about during the pandemic or a
food desert, there's yeah, there'sa lot of communities without out of school
time programming, and so we're steppinginto that gap and we fulfill that So
(06:53):
through the generosity of our donors,whether they're individuals or corporations or foundations were
able to provide this opportunity for familiesand young people that don't have the resources,
and so then they get they're outof school time experience, and so
we're there to complement what happens duringthe school day and a fun, safe
(07:14):
place for the kids to go toafter that point. And so I would
just say to any of your listenersout there, if they could just go
to our website at bgcgh dot org, they're going to find that we have
twenty five clubs in the Greater Houstonregion and an opportunity for to sign your
child up and get involved and theyhave a place to go during that after
school time period. So you're gettinga lot of private sector money, which
(07:36):
speaks again to the generosity of Houston. It's a philanthropic town and we should
be proud of that. Do youalso mentioned that there's an instrance program which
will pay the stipend to the clubif they're enrolled in that program. What
is that? Yeah, it's theTexas Shodan's Health Plan and so as part
(07:57):
of their sponsor to ship to us, one that's had rolled in in their
and their insurance can come at nocost to our organization and ten. Yeah.
Now, obviously if you were chargingten dollars per pupil to put up
a club, you wouldn't even beable to afford the air conditioning. But
these are these are really full fledgedclubs. And Toby Shownoo is a club
(08:20):
director first and foremost. Do youconsider yourself to be a mentor? Obviously
your responsibility for the clubs are differentfrom that. It's piled onto that.
But the impression I got from meetingyou just a few minutes ago is that
you you like working with these kids. You want to be a good example
to them. Yes, sir,you know I see my role as almost
(08:43):
a big brother or mentor that Iwanted our hat as a kid. I'm
able to give back and that's onething that really makes this role very rewarding.
Also my ability and capacity to beable to assess, assist our young
people really striving for their dreams,finding new interests, exploring their talents,
(09:05):
and really becoming the best version ofthemselves. Yeah. So the idea that
you can excel at and finding outwhat you're good at. So you're dealing
with all these kids or young peoplewho come into your club and they're they're
shy. Probably what is the averagepupil like when they come to you?
Okay, so smiling big, thisis It's one of the fun things,
(09:30):
right because you know, the youngman the young woman who comes in on
that first day is completely different fromthe young person you'll know two weeks from
them, right right. I justthat to me that it's just awesome.
So go ahead. So my clubI started specifically teen teenagers and eighth grade
through twelfth grade, and the averageage they start around like fourteen, So
(09:54):
on their first day as an eighthgrader, they're really reserved, quiet to
themselves. I ask a lot ofquestions just to try to get to know
them. You get one word answers. Yeah. Sometimes I've learned to become
more creative with like my you know, tactics as far as asking. We
do like fun games like do youlike strawberry pop tarts or bound sugar cinnamon
(10:16):
pop tarts? And we always discusswhy. We have a whole debate of
otherwise over why strawberry pop tarts andI'm saying this are better than uh sugar
cinnamon. I don't know why there'sa debate. You're right, exactly,
thank you. But from there,I know I'm a very animated person,
so I show a very kind,kind phase, kind presence. I'm always
(10:41):
like that. Twenty four seven.My staff, you know, I've kind
of rubbed off on them as well. So and speaking on my staff,
you know, they're really wonderful.They bring a lot of We're really well
rounded as a team, so we'reable to approach and you know, really
make our young new members feel comfortableas well as or our members that have
been with us for a while.So within the first couple of weeks,
(11:05):
our new eighth grade as they figureout that, okay, this is a
pretty fun place to be. Ican be a little comfortable. I can
kick my feet up, and youknow, you know, maybe try some
of those strawberry pop tarts and youyeah, right, you change your mind
and get get you an immigation andget some pump tarts. Uh. Y'all
are working in air conditioning environments too, but you have a bunch of facilities,
(11:28):
right. I guess the club isa is a matter of seduction to
right the kid, the kids,the young people when they come in.
I say kids and young people.You deal with teenagers, but you also
serve younger kids. Right, SoI'm accurate by I'm not completely off the
mark. Okay, So then thesekids come in and they see the amenities
(11:50):
that are available to them. Whatdo they see? What are some of
the things that are out for themto use and play with? Okay,
Well, speaking on my clubs specifically, we have fully functioning kitchen. We
love to cook. The kids lovecooking. They get to explore like healthy
you know, healthy meal options.They get to learn and explore that field
(12:11):
of culinary. We have a wonderfultechnology room with a lot of computers max.
We have podcasting equipment as well,cameras, you know, digital creativity,
it's all there. We have awonderful game room. We play pool,
ping pong, video games, especiallythe latest you know, the PlayStation
five and everything. They're all overthat. Yeah, isn't that the first
(12:33):
thing they want to do. Imean it's hypnotic, right, we know,
it's like they're awesome. Video gamesare awesome. That's it's a bit
of a problem. And lastly,we have a wonderful you know, gym
facility, outdoor pavilion, so weget to play like outdoor basketball, sports,
everything and really just encourage that Uyou know that healthy lifestyle aspect.
(12:54):
Yeah, Now listen, folks,you can have access to this for your
children for ten bucks. That's howthat's how you register. You go to
the website. Boys and Girls Clubof Greater Houston is online at BGCGH dot
org bgcgh dot org. You're givingyour kid access to an air condition environment
for the summer, but also analtdoor pavilion. They're doing cooking, physical
(13:16):
activity, and intellectual activity. Honestly, you could stop at cooking and I'd
be in for I mean, that'sI'm French. That's all that matters to
me. But you're, yeah,it's very well rounded. You're kind of
you're and you're giving them access tothis education in a way that they probably
don't have access to at home.Most most people don't cook much. You
are listening to Houston PA, Houston'sPublic Affairs show. My name is Laurent.
(13:39):
My guests are here from the Boysand Girls Club of Greater Houston.
Kevin Hattery is their president and CEO, and Toby Shoonoo is a club director.
Once again, BGCGH dot org,BGCGH dot org. Toby, I'm
not kidding. I am French,and I'm particularly interesting in the in the
(14:00):
culinary arts, because not only doI admire them as an art form,
you can really create amazing food.But the truth is that by learning all
that stuff, you learn how tojust pan fry a chicken breast and salte
some vegetables, or maybe just usea crock pot, which is probably the
easiest and safest way to cook athome. It's so easy. A croc
(14:20):
pot is inexpensive. You can getone for relatively cheap, and once you
know how to use it, man, you can just make food for a
huge family. So we're obviously dealingwith a pandemic of obesity and bad eating
habits. Is your program designed to, I guess, shine a line on
the fact that it's not all thathard to eat healthy. If you learn
(14:43):
how to cook, you do haveto spend some time doing it, though
there's no way around that, right, You're gonna have to spend some time
in front of the pan. Butso what do you decide? What do
they learn how to cook and howdo you bring them to the stove?
Are they naturally interested in it?So our teenage members they they love food
any any form or shape, butit's mostly in in accordance with our partnership
(15:07):
with the Houston Food Bank, wehost bimonthly food pantries to serve our community
as well. So some of thetimes we like to take some of the
items off of that food truck andprepare a meal that we see. Our
kids are always using you know,social media and TikTok to find different recipes,
very creative, and we try tofind healthier options. We focus on
(15:31):
food safety as well, Yeah,so that we know that we're not you
know, minimizing any food borne illnesses, as well as practicing proper kitchen etiquette
as well as portion, portion size. We want to make sure that we
balance a healthy meal with physical activityto make sure we have a healthy minded
body. Holy moly. So youyou get them to cook a meal and
(15:54):
then you send them outside to playbasketball or something like that, pretty much
idea. How much does that stick? Do you? Do? You know,
if if if your students, yourclub members actually take that culinary experience
the expertise at home and they tryto make those things at home or they
(16:14):
do of I've actually had over theyears of I've had members that they really
didn't have any experienced cooking. Theylearned some you know, different techniques and
some meal recipes from the club tookit home and cook dinner for their whole
families. I even have some thatactually went into culinary as a quicker.
It's great to leave one in particularly, he just finished up his culinary certific
(16:37):
servocation, so he's a full blownchef now. So it's a rewarding experience
and it's just a you know,fur their you know, validation that you
know, we're doing the right thingto serve our our young children. So
real quick. So what are someof the recipes they find on their social
media that they like to try?So there was one we did the hot
(17:00):
cheeto covered monzreelistic, You're gonna gety'all get to play basketball twice today after
eating that probably three times. Thatwasn't that wasn't the healthiest. You're not
kidding, but just really exploring thecreativity we've we've gone as far as like
(17:22):
the scope we've got gone from chefsalads to baked chicken, the fried chicken,
just trying different things, different cookingtechniques, just to give them a
wide variety of you know, howto you know, get a get a
cooking and fishing you know, isthat you mentioned that when the pupils come
in, they're kind of reserved andyou know, we're shy or that's just
(17:42):
the nature of things. Uh,isn't the cooking lesson away to Because you're
you're kind of bumping into each other, You're you're sharing responsibilities. It seems
like one of the most sociable thingsyou can do. Uh. There's no
adversity obviously, because everybody gets apeace. It's not like it's like a
sport. Is that one of yourtricks. It's a really good team building
(18:07):
exercise and activity. We tend totake that same method and apply to our
other program areas, especially when itcomes to like our youth leadership program.
I'm gonna touch into that our Keystoneprogram, which is our ultimate team program
built around team leadership and advocacy.Our teams are really close knit group.
(18:30):
They've grown over the years. They'vementored younger members into becoming leaders and serving
their community. That's actually our groupthat actually manages and runs our entire food
pantry program, so they distribute collectdata for our community, and distribute the
food themselves. I'm really just they'remonitoring to make sure they're you know everybody's
(18:53):
safe, but the teams are reallytaking the program and run with it.
So they you bring those in throughthis club, and not only are you
able to help them graduate from highschool, but you're also sending them back
into the community looking out for otherpeople instead of just themselves. It goes
back to what I was said atthe beginning of the show. There's nothing
(19:15):
wrong with the kids. They justneed to be shown a good example.
The kids like you, so theywant to be like you. Isn't that
that's your Kevin, Isn't that yourstrategy? When you hire somebody like Toby
and put him at the head ofa club, it's like, well,
all the kids are gonna like thisguy. Yeah. Well, and we're
reflective of the community that we live. Yeah. So Toby is a great
example of one of our leaders inthe organization that is really just leading away
(19:38):
and it's just not with the clubkids, but it's within the community itself.
We're clearly embedded in what's happening becausewe want to be a solution,
and we are part of the solution, and especially here most recently, we
just we stand in the gap whereanytime anything is needed, and once again
Toby and his team and in thecommunity of Wharton. And again we're we're
(20:00):
across five different counties providing these services. So there's a whole lot of Toby's
out there, if you will aspart of our our organization, we've been
talking for a while. You shouldtell us again how many clubs do you
have in the Houston area. Andagain it's it's only ten dollars to join.
So if you go to bgcgh dotorg you can register. And I
(20:21):
haven't asked you how often can theygo to camp? Is it? Well,
it's it's you register for the forthe fall and you're in the whole
time. And so as a asa parent, if you need support Monday
through Friday, it's they're kidding outof school. If you just wanted on
one day a week or two daysa week, then that's what you do.
(20:41):
It's not like a school system whereyou're expected to show up every day.
And again it's ten ARFs the entireschool, not not not a day,
Just to be clear, it's not, you know, not a day.
And so for your listeners out there, just to remember that there's this
resource and so whether we're talking aboutthe support that we provide and and with
reading and accelerated learning or mental healthwell being, the physical type of activities
(21:07):
which sports, and we heard Tobytalk about his club specifically, we provide
what's important to keep in mind,we provide meals at all of our clubs
every single day through our partnerships.And then these are other opportunities that we're
helping to create well rounded young people. For example, to learn how to
(21:29):
how to cook yea. We evenhave gardens at at a couple of our
clubs, so we're providing some exposureto people. So as we heard Toby
talk about as like kids are goinghome for the first time and they're they're
cooking and meal and parents were like, how do you know how to do
that? While I'd learned that atthe club, And they'll go home and
they'll say, hey, I let'sgo to the grocery store or the market
and they're looking at caulflower for thefirst What is that? You know?
(21:53):
Where'd you learn that? It's becausewhile we grow that in the garden,
so different kind of experiences across,but the whole ideas that you know,
we're it's well rounded for the youngpeople that are coming to the clubs one
way or the other, Toby,it might be useful to describe some of
the abject poverty that you see.Some of these kids that come into your
club will not have had breakfast,or they may have had lunch at school,
(22:18):
but they may be going home andnot having dinner. It's not uncommon
at all in our country for people. Do you call it food insecurity?
Uh, it's a very nice wayof saying that we have a bunch of
kids that go hungry all night longand they won't eat again until they get
to school, and sometimes they sleepon the floor. We have shows with
the Houston Furniture Bank all the timetalking about that. We're talking about severe
(22:40):
poverty. So do you do yousee a lot of that? Usually,
very very often people are quiet aboutthose things. But how do you deal
with it? And how do youtry to identify the kids that need extra
help? So normally what I woulddo is if if I did see any
you know, observe any have normalitiesor what was approached by a parent or
(23:02):
anything. Yeah, we actually havea program manager over our Family Engagement Department
that connects us to resources that canhelp our families that we serve. So
we normally go through that channel.We connect the families with the resources,
and then we always follow up tomake sure that they're still doing okay and
if there's any other way that theclub can assist in their current situation.
(23:25):
So basically, when you get theteenagers in in your club, there's food
out and ready for them, andis that the first thing they do is
to grab something to eat and getto the video games. Not typically every
single day that we have cooking,we normally try to like space it out.
A lot of them do to someresearch, especially with the nutrition and
everything, but every every day wefeed our members every single day. You
(23:51):
are listening to Houston PA Houston's PublicAffairs Show. My name is Laurent and
my guests are here from Boys andGirls Club of Greater Houston. Kevin Maatterie
is their president and CEO, andToby show Noo is their club one of
their club directors. You have twentyfive clubs. Yes, the number just
feels really high to me, andI have to repeat this. It's it's
(24:12):
practically free to join the club.For most people, it's ten dollars and
they have a scholarship program which worksfor those I mean if you have a
bunch of kids, it becomes abill, but it's for the whole year.
And as Toby and Kevin have described, if you need, if you're
if you're a teenager, or ifyour child wants to participate in the club's
(24:33):
activities every day, welcome. Ifyou want to come in on Monday only,
welcome. There's I love the freedomthat you're offering. You're you're basically
have an open door policy with someexclusivity to make sure that everybody knows that
it's worth something. And again,eighty nine percent of their kids graduate,
(24:53):
because it would be more if allthe kids self reported, and if we
discounted the ones that move out oftown and you don't hear from them again,
so you can't guarantee that they've they'vegraduated. But the program is a
great success, and you could belike Toby Kevin. You're you have employment
opportunity. I don't know if youcould be quite like Toby, but you
could aim to be like Toby andmaybe with experience and time. He's one
(25:19):
of our rising stars. He's leadingthe way here and a great example for
anybody that's interested in a full timeor part time opportunity. And our organization
again over a five county area fromworking all the way down to Galliston and
in between. So if any ofyour listeners interested, then if you go
to our website at BGCGH dot org, you can find out what careers are
(25:42):
are available. And if you wantto work in this out of school time
space with with young people and youthdevelopment, then we welcome you to reach
out to us and and uh,there's some great opportunities. And the reason
why we're hiring is because we keepgrowing, we keep it spanding. We
need more people to help us asthe need in the demand continues to rise
(26:06):
in our Greater Houston region. Areyou hoping to open more clubs? We
are, Yeah, so that's partof I'm obviously these things are complicated,
but yeah, you're looking at doingthat too. Yeah, we've already got
a couple that opened this summer,another one that's opening this fall, and
then in twenty twenty four another onealready slated to open as well. And
that's what we know about. Yeah, we're fortunate and that again we have
(26:30):
strong collaborative partnerships and when other entitiescome to us and they ask, then
we're going to entertain that conversation,how can we partner and meet a need
and another community. Then we'll dothat. Toby. When you hire somebody
to be a member of your team, what are some of the qualities you're
looking for? Really, just iftheir heart is in it, because it's
(26:52):
not hard work, it's heart work. The passion of serving our young people
in mentoring them to grow up,That's what I really try to look for,
their experience with working with kids before, and then just the overall creativity
because there's no one way to youknow, to cut a cookie. Yeah,
so you have to really just lookat people who are diverse, you
(27:15):
know, have different experiences, differentbackgrounds that can really add to what we
already have. Myself, I lookfor people who are strong in areas that
I'm weak, so that we canbetter support each other and they can support
me and you know, really carryingout our mission as as an organization.
So that's one thing that I lookfor. And then really just a passion
(27:37):
factor like this has to be somethingthat you feel as you're calling because it's
very rewarding at the end of theday. Yeah, I mean, watch
out for those kids, man,they grow up and they take care of
us. After that, and soit's important to get it right. You
it seems like it's a fun job. It sounds like you're fun to work
(28:00):
with, and I've talked to Kevinmany times now. Obviously the programs are
fun for the teenagers and the kids. They free. And also we didn't
mention this, but some of yourcorporate partners are big names that are desirable,
so to speak. It's the Astros, the Cowboys. Wait, no,
it's not the cost Texas. I'mFrench. We sue me, alright,
find wrong city. Then did wehave the Cowboys here for a while.
(28:22):
No, it was always Dallas.It's the Oilers, the freaking oilers
that move and got me confused.I'm gonna kill for saying that, but
yeah, that's one of the thingsthat you'll do. They literally give you
bushels full of tickets and you're ableto take entire clubs to have an amazing
experience. And I know it's amazingbecause I've never been attracted to baseball on
(28:44):
TV. And I went out tothe ballpark one day a minute made and
it was amazing. It was anamazing ambiance. Fathers, sons, families,
very laid back. They don't stop. The game for commercials is just
pure entertainment, and so they haveaccess to things like that too. You
can help them fund more programs.I bet you that if you're a multimillionaire
and you called Kevin Attery and youtold them I want to help you open
(29:07):
a club in this area, youcould probably make something like that happen.
Go to their website BGCGH dot orgbgcgh dot org. You don't have to
be a multimillionaire to give a fewbucks where a community, which means that
if a bunch of us give fivebucks a few dollars, it makes a
huge difference. And that's another wayfor them to maybe open a new club,
(29:27):
or or maybe install a new kitchenand well of the existing clubs so
that they can spread the arts ofeating well wonderful food from scratch. I'm
a big fan, but I'm French. Folks, if you have any questions
related to Houston, PA, youcan send me an email. Texan from
France at gmail dot com. Texanfrom France at gmail dot com. Even
(29:48):
if it's something simple like asking mefor a website. Don't feel dumb.
Just send me an email. I'llbe glad to talk to you and I
want to thank you for carrying inlistening to the issues I put on this
show. My name is Laurent Iam the Texan from France and this has
been Houston PA, Houston's public affairsshow, Houston Strong
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Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.