By Libby Saylor Wright, President & CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta
What does it mean to prepare a young person for the real world?
It is a question I have been thinking about since joining Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta (BGCMA). The answer is bigger than academic achievement, keeping a child safe after school, and helping a young person get their first job.
Preparing a young person for the real world means helping them develop the confidence to walk into a room and know they belong there. It means knowing how to build relationships, communicate clearly, solve problems, lead others, and recover when things do not go as planned. It means having someone who sees potential in you before you can see it in yourself and having access to the experiences and opportunities that turn that potential into possibility.
This is the work in front of us at Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, and it is why our ambition to help drive economic mobility in Metro Atlanta by cultivating young people who are ready for the real world is so important.
Atlanta’s Opportunity Gap Is a Challenge We Cannot Ignore
Atlanta is a city of extraordinary economic growth, innovation, and possibilities. It is home to global companies, world-class institutions, and an entrepreneurial spirit that has made our region an economic powerhouse.
Yet too many young people growing up here do not have equal access to that opportunity.
Atlanta has long struggled with economic mobility, and research has shown how significantly a child’s future can be shaped by the circumstances and communities into which they are born. I spoke about this research in my last article titled, “Economic Mobility Is a Team Sport. Is Atlanta Ready to Play?”
That tension between Atlanta’s enormous opportunity and the uneven access to it is one we cannot accept as inevitable.
At BGCMA, we believe one of the most important things we can do is help young people become ready to seize opportunities when they come. That means moving beyond the question of how we keep young people engaged today and asking a more consequential question:
How are we preparing them for what comes next?
From Potential to Possibility
For more than 80 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta has been a trusted place for young people to learn, grow, and belong. That foundation matters.
But the world our young people are entering is changing quickly and the skills employers need are evolving. Career pathways are changing; technology is reshaping how we work, and the distance between having potential and having access to opportunity can still be far too wide. We have an opportunity and a responsibility to close that gap.
We are organizing our work around four interconnected pillars: character and leadership, healthy relationships, academic success, and life and workforce readiness. Each matters on its own, and, together, they help young people become ready for the real world.
Our Life and workforce readiness pillar is particularly important to our evolution. We want young people to understand what is possible beyond the classroom and have opportunities to experience it for themselves. That can mean:
- Exploring a career they have never considered.
- Meeting a professional who looks like them.
- Learning how to present themselves in an interview.
- Developing the confidence to speak in front of a room.
- Participating in an internship.
- Earning a scholarship.
- Building a relationship with a mentor.
- Acquiring skills that lead to a trade certification or complement their college experience.
Or discovering that a career they once thought was out of reach might actually be theirs. These experiences are not extra; they are pathways to possibility.
Our Character and leadership pillar is equally important as we think about the critical role human skills play in balancing the very technical world we live in. As well as how our young people cultivate and navigate relationships with themselves, their peers, and leaders.
Sometimes Lasting Impact Looks Like Brian
I recently had the opportunity to reflect on the journey of one of our alumni, Brian Ariza.
Brian joined the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta when he was in the 6th grade and remained a member of the A. Worley Brown Club until he graduated from high school. He participated in our Youth of the Year program and pursued a career in engineering.
Today, he works at DPR Construction, the company where he once interned through an opportunity at BGCMA. He has spent years building his career at DPR, and he continues to give back to the next generation of Club members as a mentor.
Brian’s story is powerful not because it is unusual, but because it illustrates what becomes possible when a young person has access to relationships, experiences, and opportunities that help them see a future for themselves.
And Brian is not alone.
Behind every young person who discovers their voice is someone who encouraged them to speak. Behind every young person who walks into their first internship is someone who helped them believe they were ready. And, behind every young person who begins to imagine a career is someone who opened a door. Sometimes that person is a mentor, teacher, parent, a business leader who says, “Come see what we do,” or a staff member at a Boys & Girls Club who simply refuses to give up on a young person. That is what lasting impact looks like.
We Cannot Do This Work Alone
If we are serious about economic mobility in Metro Atlanta, preparing young people for the real world cannot be the responsibility of youth-serving organizations alone. It requires employers willing to create pathways into their industries; educators who help young people connect learning to possibility; mentors who invest their time and experience; philanthropists who understand that an investment in youth is an investment in the future workforce and the future of our communities; and families and communities that believe young people deserve not only to dream, but to have a genuine opportunity to achieve those dreams.
This is why partnerships matter to our work.
Our relationship with corporations like DPR Construction, The Home Depot, Accenture, Coca-Cola, and Toyota, demonstrates what can happen when a company moves beyond simply supporting a nonprofit and actively helps create pathways to careers. That is the kind of partnership we need more of. Because the future workforce is sitting in our Clubs today.
Over the coming months, you will see and hear more from Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta about what this work looks like in practice. We will introduce you to young people and alumni whose lives have been shaped by our Clubs. You will hear from mentors who have invested in our youth and see how corporate partnerships can open doors to careers. You will also hear from parents who have experienced firsthand what it means to watch their children grow in confidence, capability, and ambition.
These stories are more than testimonials. They are evidence of what is possible when a community decides that every young person deserves access to opportunity, and they are an invitation to support us. Because creating lasting impact is not simply a plan for Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, it is a call to action for Metro Atlanta. We invite you to help us multiply these stories. Learn more at www.bgcma.org.
