With the help of two of its board members, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee’s Ready Center will soon have a new home.
The Ready Center offers youth programming focused on leadership, community service and college and career readiness. It was previously housed inside the St. Francis of Assisi Parish building located at 1916 Vel R. Phillips Ave. But after an August rainstorm revealed damages and safety concerns at the facility, the Ready Center’s programming — which includes its popular Graduation Plus program — needed to relocate.
Since then, the Ready Center’s programs have been operating out of the lower level of the Mardak Center for Administration and Training, the BGCGM’s headquarters, located at 1558 N 6th St. But thanks to BGCGM board members Keith Mardak and Harris Turer, owner and chief executive officer of the Milwaukee Admirals, the BGCGM is preparing to open a new building for the Ready Center.
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Jeff Snell. Submitted photo.[/caption]
“It’s really neat to see how trustees have congruence in what they care about, and as they look to create value for the Boys & Girls Clubs and our work, you end up with these really beautiful moments,” said Jeff Snell, president and CEO of the BGCGM. In December, Snell was selected to head the organization after leading on an interim basis since April.
The rainstorm last year created some flooding inside the Vel R. Phillips Ave. building. There had been some leakage coming through the roof for a long time, and that coupled with falling ceiling tiles, mold and other issues, meant the 10,198-square-foot space “wasn’t inhabitable anymore” for the Clubs, Snell said.
Moving the Ready Center’s programming to the Mardak Center affected the more than 1,000 young people who participate on a monthly basis, said Andre Douglas, assistant vice president of Grad Plus and Leadership & Service at the BGCGM. Douglas runs the Ready Center and its programming.
The Grad Plus program, which Snell described as the “centerpiece” of the Ready Center, provides support for students completing college and scholarship applications, preparing for the ACT, planning for financial aid and more.
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Andre Douglas. Submitted photo.[/caption]
“If you think about the alphabet, if there was an alphabet, A to Z for something college access, we’re covering every letter of that alphabet to ensure that students and families are fully aware of what it means to take advantage of a college education, get an affordable college education, and then be living in Milwaukee as college graduates productive citizens to eventually give back to the city of Milwaukee,” Douglas said.
The program has graduated nearly 800 students with at least a bachelor’s degree, and many of those students graduated debt-free or with manageable debt, Douglas said.
“Where do we take a really popular program that reaches teens and not disrupt that outreach?” Snell said. “Because once you lose teens, especially if they are drivers age, it’s hard to get them back.”
Launching a new space
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Keith Mardak and Mary Vandenberg[/caption]
In July 2023, Mardak, who has been a BGCGM board member for over 30 years, purchased the former DAAR Engineering building located at 518 W. Cherry St. for about $1.45 million, according to state records. Mardak and his wife Mary Vandenberg are philanthropists and former executives of Milwaukee-based sheet music publisher Hal Leonard Corp.
Situated on the parcel adjacent to the Mardak Center and down the street from the Pieper-Hillside Boys & Girls Club located at 611 W Cherry St., the 7,000-square-foot building was intended for the BGCGM to eventually use. Mardak said he “was holding it until we decided exactly what to do.”
“We wanted to keep the land under the Boys and Girls Clubs control,” Snell said. “But we really didn’t have immediate use for the brick and mortar, the actual physical building. Now we did because we needed to accommodate more teens. So on a dime, we turned, explained to Keith what happened, did another walk through and realized that now the opportunity had presented itself to answer the question, ‘Well, what exactly? What for? Why would we keep the building?’”
The transition process to the former DAAR building has already begun. Furniture and other programming supplies have been moved over to the future home of the Ready Center, but all of the spaces still need to be properly organized and set up.
“The other piece to it is aesthetics,” Snell said. “It doesn’t look like it was designed for teens, because it wasn’t. We need to have design and aesthetic elements that make it welcoming for teens specifically, and not have it look like an old engineering firm.”
The BGCGM is working with the City of Milwaukee to get the permits needed to operate out of the new building. Douglas said he hopes the new Ready Center will be up and running by May or June.
“There’s a lot that goes into launching a whole new space,” Douglas said inside the future Ready Center. “And we’re patient, but we’re excited about whenever the day does come for us to be able to call this home, and our students are especially excited.”
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Powered by the Milwaukee Admirals
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Harris Turer. Submitted photo.[/caption]
The new building also requires some interior and exterior renovations before it can open for programming. Turer, who has been a BGCGM board member since 2000, has committed the $172,000 cost to renovate and update the building to meet the needs of the teenagers that the Ready Center serves. In addition, Turer has continued the Admirals’ sponsorship of the Ready Center.
“I think I have a responsibility because of my position, and the Admirals view this as a priority that we invest back in the community to make our home a better place to live and work and play,” Turer said. “The Ready Center is just a perfect connection for us and shows our commitment to the community and to the kids in it, something that we’re very proud of and look forward to supporting, not only now, but into the future.”
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The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee's former Ready Center at 1916 Vel R. Phillips Ave.[/caption]
Once completed, the entrance of the new Ready Center will — like the previous Vel R. Phillips Avenue facility — highlight the Admirals sponsorship and feature the Admirals logo along with the name “The Ready Center Powered by the Milwaukee Admirals.” Milwaukee Admirals signage will also be included throughout the building.
With the Admirals support as inspiration, a space inside the Ready Center will be called “the Arena.”
“Harris Turer is just a champion for whatever cause he wants to champion, and we’re very grateful that Boys and Girls Clubs and the Ready Center is a cause that he is championing,” Douglas said.
The Admiral’s support for the BGCGM and other community causes throughout Milwaukee is “in many ways unmatched by other sports teams,” Douglas said. The Admirals also host family nights for the BGCGM youths, which allow the kids to suit up and play on the ice.
“The Admirals donate their suite from the Bucks games to the Brewers games,” Douglas said. “They really give our family and kids a really unforgettable experience to show them that, ‘Hey, I care about you. Life is expensive, but come and have some free fun at the expense of the Milwaukee Admirals.’”
Changing the trajectory
Turer did not disclose specifically how much funding the Admirals has invested in the Ready Center and its programming, but he said it was “significant.” The return on investment will be incredible, he said, because of how many youths the Ready Center connects with.
At a time when it can be challenging for youth organizations to keep teenagers involved, it’s important to have more opportunities like the Ready Center available in the community, Turer said.
“In this case, you have a program that actually teenagers are really interested in, and they come, they do it voluntarily,” Turer said. “No one’s forcing them to do it. And I think we’re going to see tremendous results.”
There are 353 young people participating in the Grad Plus program. Turer and Mardak’s investments in the Ready Center inherently have the potential to change the trajectory of those young lives, because they can have the tools to access higher education, achieve self-sufficiency and embrace aspirations, Snell said. And this can set up future generations for success.
“It’s not 353 kids. It’s 353 future families and their kids and their kids,” Snell said. “Keith and Harris get that, and they want to contribute to make that realized.”
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Students participating in the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee's Grad Plus program pose for a photo on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025 inside the Mardak Center for Administration and Training. Submitted photo.[/caption]
