The safety and wellbeing of our youth is our NUMBER ONE PRIORITY. We work every day to create a safe, fun environment so kids can have every opportunity to be successful in life. We have ZERO tolerance for inappropriate behavior of any kind, including child sexual abuse or misconduct, and we put resources behind that stance.
Culture of Safety: Boys & Girls Club of Dayton continually updates robust safety policies, programs and training for our staff and volunteers that are designed to promote child safety and protect young people from threats that are present in our society. We implement layers of safety policies and guidelines to keep our kids safe including:
Boys & Girls Club of Dayton has comprehensive safety policies in place that protect youth – including, but not limited to, supervision, transportation, communication and prohibiting private one-on-one contact.
We encourage all staff, members and families to report any incident or situation they feel is unsafe. Through our national partnership with Praesidium, one of the nation’s leading safety experts, Boys & Girls Club of Dayton members and staff have access to a confidential 24-hour toll-free Child Safety Hotline, 866-607-SAFE (7233) or email [email protected].
Mandatory criminal background checks are required every year for every staff and board member at Boys & Girls Club of Dayton. In addition, criminal background checks are required for any volunteer who has direct contact with children. All potential employees and volunteers are also run through the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Ohio State Registry.
Employees and Volunteers of Boys & Girls Club of Dayton area all mandated reporters. We are required, by law, to report any reported or suspected child abuse or neglect to the state’s Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline. In addition to this, we are also required to report any critical incident to Boys & Girls Clubs of American within 24 hours.
We complete a safety assessment each year to ensure we continually make improvements to safety at our Clubs.
Ongoing training and supervision of staff is critical. We participate in a wide variety of child safety training conducted such as Child & Club Safety 101, Preventing Bullying in Youth Organizations, Keeping Your Boys & Girls Club Safe, Social Media Safety, Annual Suicide Prevention Training, Workplace Safety Orientation, Annual Child Abuse Awareness Training, and annual Mandated Reporter training, Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Training, and CPR/First Aid and AED training. We also engage leading third-party safety experts to provide guidance for our policies and approaches, including Praesidium, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and the National Children’s Advocacy Center.
Boys & Girls Club of Dayton has a dedicated safety committee to provide input and guidance on local policies and safety strategies. Priorities and initiatives include:
Any employee interested in moving to another Boys & Girls Club is required to have a reference from the previous Club, even if the Clubs are within the same community.
We comply with federal, state and local safety laws, including those impacting facilities and vehicles.
Nationally, Boys & Girls Clubs of America works with leading experts in the areas of safety, security and technology to develop state-of-the-art solutions for Clubs. Partners include: