Healthy Lifestyles

Develop young people's capacity to engage in positive behaviors to nurture their well-being, set personal goals and grow into self-sufficient adults. 

Our Goal: To Develop a Healthier Generation
  • A comparison of data from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America's National Youth Outcomes Intiative Survey and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behaviors Surveillance System (YRBSS) shows that higher percentages of regularly attending Club members report being physically active every day than their peers nationally. Among youth in middle school, 42% of Club boys and 27% of Club girls exercise daily, compared with 37% of boys and 23% of girls nationally.
  • Teens that stay connected to their Boys & Girls Club as they get older seem better able to resist engaging in health-risk behaviors than their peers nationally. For instance, NYOI and YRBSS data show that 91%% of Club ninth-graders report abstaining from drinking alcohol int he past 30 days, compared with 77% of ninth-graders nationally. By twelfth grade, 84% of Club seniors and 58% of seniors nationally report doing so.