New Boys and Girls Club opens on West Side ‘not only for our young people but by our young people’

The first newly built Boys & Girls Club in two decades officially opened on the West Side Friday morning.

The club, which sits on the same campus as the 34-acre police and fire training academy, will offer programs for Austin, West Garfield Park, West Humboldt Park and nearby communities.

“This is a dream come for our kids, our organization, our communities, for our city,” said Michael Crowley, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago.

Construction on the $15 million, 27,000-square-foot Rusu-McCartin Boys & Girls Club began in April 2022. The city is leasing the land to the club for $1 a year for up to 75 years.

The three-story club in West Garfield Park offers kids and teens a commercial teaching kitchen, a music and recording studio, art rooms that also have robotics and 3D printing, a rooftop garden, an NBA-sized basketball court, and a variety of summer and after-school programs.

The club soft-launched some of its programming this summer and wanted to officially open in time for the school year, which starts Monday.

“This club is not only for our young people but by our young people. Before we even started construction, we reached out to youth in the community to see what they wanted,” said Joseph Ferraro, chairman of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago board.

Their input informed everything from programs at the club to the design and layout of the building, he said.

Jametria T. and Michael R., two 15-year-olds who serve on the Rusu-McCartin Club Youth Council, said they were excited to have the club come to their community. The teens declined to give their last names.

“This club gives me freedom and a place where I can use my voice every day,” Michael said. “It’s been a place where I found support, friendships and opportunities to learn and grow.”

Jametria said it’s already made a difference in her life.

Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) said the club provides a much-needed space for the community’s youth.

“Our children need to have a place where they can interact with one another, where they can learn how to respect one another, where they will be able to explore each other, to grow and learn,” Mitts said.

Bartlett McCartin, the chairman emeritus of the club’s board of directors and one of the main donors for the new club, said sharing a campus with the training academies is special.

“I couldn’t think of a more meaningful place than the very place dedicated to training the men and women who risk their lives in service to our community each and every day,” McCartin said.

Many Chicago police officers and firefighters attended the opening Friday, including interim Chicago Police Supt. Fred Waller and Larry Snelling, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s pick for the city’s next police superintendent.

The new club, at 4411 W. Chicago Ave., is the city’s 24th Boys & Girls Club and the third location on the West Side.