The Boys & Girls Club of Burbank and Greater East Valley started as a place for the neighborhood kids to hang out and play. Long before there were official school sites or a tech lab or even a club van, it was just a bunch of young people wanting a place to call their own.

So in 1995, an old firehouse on Buena Vista Street was converted into a Boys & Girls Club. Members of the community donated their time and talent, walls got painted, shelves got mounted, staff was hired and the Main Club site was born and became home to about 75 kids.

Seven years later, in 2002 the principal at Roosevelt Elementary School approached us with the idea to pilot an after school program on the Roosevelt site. The Roosevelt Elementary program was so successful that the Burbank Unified School District (BUSD) asked that the program be replicated at six more elementary school sites. The director of that first after school site was Shanna Warren. She’ now our CEO. And that was just the beginning

In the fall of 2004, we added the Deaf and Hard of Hearing D/HH program. Then in 2006 we took a moribund arts program and turned it into an award winning Creative Arts program that offered dance, drama, singing and art in several mediums. In 2007, our Club and BUSD forged a partnership wherein the Club provided the after school programming at four additional sites. These programs are known as After School Education and Safety Program. (ASES).

By 2008, our Club recognized that teens were an important subset of our demographic and put together specific programs for this age group that was free and continues to be free today.

As we welcomed a new decade in 2010, we expanded our reach into middle school and watched our membership approach 1000 children a day. In addition, our Deaf and Hard of Hearing program was growing and by 2012 our geographical growth included Burbank, Glendale, Verdugo Hills and Sun Valley Today we have sites at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, opened in 2013 and St. Patrick Catholic School and Verdugo Hills High School opened in 2014.

As of the late summer 2017, we added another location to our summer enrichment program, increasing the number of locations to 5 and we also brought in the Van Ness ASES site in the Hollywood area, reaching a milestone of 20 sites. In 2018, we partnered with BHC raising the number of club sites to 22.

2020 was a challenging year because of Covid-19. In spite of the pandemic, we never closed our doors and were able to help our families with their child care needs during an uncertain time. We also worked in tandem with our school district and our members to master virtual learning and social- distancing. The year will be remembered not for the challenges but for the success stories. Each new year brings opportunities for the Club and yet, at its heart, the Boys & Girls Club of Burbank and GEV is still a place for our (bigger than ever) neighborhood kids to call home.

2021 will always stand out as the year we moved into our new Main Club House in downtown Burbank. It is so gratifying to be able to accommodate our members ages 5-18 with enough space for the variety of enrichment programs we offer. We want our parents to feel that their children are being cared for in a warm, loving environment. As much as we love the gymnasium, performing arts center, and all the additional program space, the best part about our new home is that we can nurture and care for many more children and help them reach their full potential.

2022 was a wonderful year. We were happy to celebrate the completion of the renovation of the Warner Bros. Performing Arts Center. The Main Club became home to a state-of-th-art performing arts space, allowing us to showcase members talents by hosting our Artist Showcase

at the Club for the very first time. Renovations to the gymnasium were completed thanks to the Lakers Youth Foundation enhancing our athletic programming and creating opportunities to host basketball tournaments and provide much needed gym space for local organizations.

In 2025, we proudly celebrated our 30th anniversary, marking three decades of serving youth and families throughout the Greater San Fernando Valley and parts of Los Angeles.

Today, what began as a single Clubhouse has grown into a network of 34 locations serving more than 6,100 youth each day. Our strong partnerships with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and Burbank Unified School District have been instrumental in our growth and continue to support our ability to expand services and meet the needs of our community. Supporting young people and their families remains at the heart of everything we do. We are deeply grateful to everyone who stands behind our mission.

Your generosity, dedication, and belief in our work are the driving forces behind our success and make it possible for us to continue creating opportunities for the youth we serve every day. We are grateful to all of the donors and supporters whose generosity makes all things possible.