Nonprofit of the Year Winner | Large: Boys and Girls Clubs of Springfield Inc.

On a recent Wednesday, Boys and Girls Club of Springfield Inc. CEO Brandy Harris visits the bustling Henderson Unit ahead of a board of directors meeting. Dozens of kids are headed out the door to a field trip, passing a mural telling the children of Missouri’s third-largest city: “Your Voice Matters.”

The facility is one of eight Springfield Boys and Girls Clubs. Four of them came online since Harris was named CEO in 2019, including a new $12 million teen center off Grant Avenue Parkway. It’s set to hold a ribbon-cutting Aug. 18, a day before it opens.

While the Risdal Family Teen Center for Great Futures is Boys and Girls Club’s latest innovation – unique on a national level, as SBJ reported Aug. 1 – the nonprofit has been part of Springfield since Nov. 4, 1938.

Harris can rattle off that founding date with ease, just one data point among multitudes as she manages a $6.2 million yearly budget funding an organization serving 5,400 children. Harris is joined by 125 employees and roughly 500 “very intentional” volunteers as they pursue the cause.

After walking through squads of field trip kids clad in pink T-shirts, Harris pivots to reflecting on the wide-ranging mission of Boys and Girls Club.

“In its simplest form, we provide before-and after-school services and summer services to the kids who need us most,” she says. “So, safe places with trusted adults, with opportunities, with barriers to access removed, with mentorships during the after-school hours and then all day during the summer.”

Harris isn’t shy about sharing her vision of excellence, which she defines in part with a simple list of core values: “collaboration, culture, relevance, altruism, you know, mission over ego at all times.”

It’s a misimpression to think Boys and Girls Club serves only “at-risk” children, or that it’s a day care, Harris says. Yes, Boys and Girls Club charges just $110 per school year for elementary-aged kids to receive services. They range from field trips to mental health support to haircuts and food. But those services cost some $2,500 per child.

Specifically, Harris says Boys and Girls Club of Springfield is now focused on its new teen center launch. The teen center became a priority due to the numbers of Springfield children that Boys and Girls Club considers “unstably housed,” some 1,200 kids.

The ever-present need, she says, is financial support to close that gap between affordable sign-up fees and the true cost of providing opportunities to every child who needs them.