Janice CasteelBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB UNITS• Tucker — Third Street• George Johnson Teen — Third Street• Blythe — Blythe Avenue• Reba M. Powers — Lay Street• Cleveland State — Adkisson Drive• Harlen Painter — 11th Street• Benton — Clemmer Ferry RoadSource: Cleveland Boys and Girls Club
CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The Boys and Girls Club is using its share of a federal grant to take its programs beyond the walls of the clubs.
Cleveland is one of six midsize cities in Tennessee that are halfway through Tennessee Targeted Community Crime Reduction grants. Cleveland’s $800,000 grant brings together city, police, schools and nonprofit organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club to target the south and east sides of town.
Derrick Kinsey, the club’s director of operations, told grant partners at their monthly meeting Tuesday that the club’s long list of programs for education, sports, arts and character development are available throughout the targeted area, as well as in the rest of the city and in Benton, Tenn.
“We like to create an oasis,” Kinsey said. “We are always trying to strategically locate our clubs.”