Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County offers a unique variety of educational, recreational, cultural and social activities for youth between the ages of 5 to 18. We provide a world class Club Experience that assures success is within reach of every young person who walks through our doors.  Programs focus on getting all members on track to graduate from high school with a plan for the future, demonstrating good character and citizenship, and living a healthy lifestyle.

Clubs nurture and enrich young lives by giving boys & girls opportunities for personal growth and achievement through engaging activities such as visual and performing arts, fitness, STEM, community service and leadership development. All Boys & Girls Clubs are mentored by trained youth development professionals focused on social and community bonding.

The Club celebrates its 50th Birthday this year and has kicked off the celebration with a ribbon cutting for our remodeled gymnasium and new athletic field developed by Kevin Harvick and Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation. 

These exciting improvements create new opportunities to better serve our children in a more meaningful way.  Your personal gift allows us to facilitate new group activities and on a larger scale. Our athletic field and gymnasium can now host new sports clinics, special athletic leagues and fitness activities.  The return on your investment is that our children will thrive in an environment dedicated to their health and happiness.  As a Boys & Girls Club supporter, you share in the success of our programs and the success of the children in our care!

If you would like to volunteer and help our Members, pledge volunteer hours on the Give Big Kern home page and fill out the Pledge Volunteer Form.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County would like to send a big thank-you to the Kern County community for its ongoing support of the Club and the youth that call it their home-away-from-home. With each gift, truly life-changing impact is created for our community’s youth!

Like many other communities across the nation, Kern County faces significant challenges ensuring that our youth are adequately prepared to enter the workforce. Young people increasingly feel ill-prepared for work, lacking the necessary skills and confidence needed. At the same time, local employers increasingly cite challenges finding sufficient talent as their greatest obstacle to growth. Part of our mission is to equip young people with the skills and opportunities they need to succeed in today’s competitive job market. We believe that every teen, regardless of their background, deserves access to the tools and resources to reach their full potential.

And this year, we are focused on expanding our workforce readiness programming, which provides essential training in areas such as resume building, interview preparation, communication skills, and financial literacy in addition to offering paid internship opportunities with employers around Kern County. Our programming has already had a profound impact on hundreds of young people in our community, and we are excited to offer it to even more teens.

However, we cannot do this important work alone. Your generous support can make a world of difference. Donations today will help fund the costs of program materials, mentor training, career development events, and more. It will also help us provide scholarships to ensure that every young person who wants to participate can do so, regardless of financial barriers. youth!

We are deeply grateful for the community's continued support of our mission. Together, we can create a brighter, more promising future for the next generation of leaders. Let’s give Kern County youth the programs they need to make their great futures possible.

Thank you again for your consideration!

Who We Are

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County was founded in 1966 as the Boys’ Club of Bakersfield. We have grown from serving 25 boys to providing after school and holiday day camps for over 8,500 school-age children and youth (ages 5 to 18 years) daily between 3 Club sites and 61 school-based sites in Bakersfield, Arvin, Lamont, Frazier Park, Wasco, and Shafter as the largest Boys & Girls Club organization in the nation.

Our youth face serious risks in today’s world, but the Boys and Girls Clubs offer solutions. The Club’s goal is to serve as a safe haven within neighborhoods in which crime rates are high and the time after school exposes youngsters to illegal activities, abuse, and violence. We reach out to families and go beyond our walls by offering families support services including resource referral.

Our five core program areas (objectives) allow us to engage young people in activities with adults, peers, and family members that enable them to develop self-esteem and to reach their full potential...