Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee has announced it will close one of its north side locations at the end of the week.
The Daniels-Mardak Boys & Girls Club, 4834 N. 35th St., will close at the end of summer programming on Friday. The organization has operated out of that site, which is next to Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God in Christ, since 2004.
“Daniels-Mardak site was becoming one of the most expensive sites to operate across all of our Boys & Girls Club locations and, as our CEO (Vincent Lyles) previously stated, there was a landlord-tenant dispute around the lease, and so it was just the best time for us to do it,” said Kimberly Walker, chief operations officer.
Families were notified on Aug. 15 in a letter that was sent home at the end of the day.
“We tried to make sure that when we made the decision to move that it was the least disruptive time for the kids and their families, because we understand how change is difficult for anyone,” Walker said.
Staff members at the Daniels-Mardak site have all retained similar positions at other Boys & Girls Club sites, Walker said.
Members of the Daniels-Mardak site will be able to move to any of the organization’s 47 other locations. A new site at Barack Obama School of Career and Technical Education, which is about a mile from Daniels-Mardak, is scheduled to open in September.
Walker said the organization has set up office hours for families to discuss the transition with staff members.
“We really want to thank all of our parents for trusting us to provide safe programming for their children over the past years at the Daniels-Mardak site and we’d ask that they continue to trust that we will do the same thing at any of the other 47 locations that they decide upon,” Walker said. “We do not make this decision lightly. We understand how change can be difficult for them and we’re doing everything on our end to make this process as seamless as possible.”
