After closing in 2011, Alachua County’s Boys & Girls Club has its mentoring center back.
About 100 Gainesville residents gathered Saturday to celebrate the reopening of the Boys & Girls Club of Alachua County’s Rotary Campus & Mentor Center.
The center, located at 1100 SE 17th Drive, provides free academic tutoring to students in kindergarten through third grade. The center closed due to funding issues and a lack of space, said Liz Martin, the director of the Mentor Center.
The new Mentor Center receives its primary funding from the Community Foundation of North Central Florida, Martin said.
The center is focusing its attention on the Lincoln Heights neighborhood in Gainesville’s east side, which is historically known as a low-income area. It expects to give individualized instruction to students from nearby schools, including Joseph Williams Elementary School.
Parents and guardians brought their children to the event Saturday to sign them up for mentoring programs. Another organization, Kids Count in Alachua County, offered free after-school programs, which provide help for reading and social skills.
Fewer than 50 percent of Alachua County low-income students who went into ninth grade five years ago will graduate this year, according to a Kids Count press release.
“Our short-term goal is to get kids on or above grade level,” said Jessica Belcoure, a program assistant for Kids Count.
Mary Banks, a 53-year-old Gainesville resident, was among those who stood in line. Banks signed up her grandchildren, ages 5, 7 and 9, for mentoring help.
She gained custody of the children, but she lost her job of 35 years a few months ago. She said she wants her grandchildren to get extra help but doesn’t always have time to help all three by herself.
“This is some hope,” she said.
