The Safety and Wellbeing of Young People 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. This is accomplished through our established culture of safety that includes a ZERO tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior of any kind, including child abuse and misconduct.

As part of our culture of safety, we continually update 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. Safety policies and guidelines to keep our kids safe include, but are not limited to:

Mandatory Fingerprinting & Background Checks: Mandatory criminal background checks are required upon hire and every year for all staff and Board members at Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence. 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 National Sex Offender Registry.

Mandated Reporting: All staff and volunteers are mandated reporters. We are required to report any critical incident/safety concern to local authorities immediately. We are also required to report any critical incident to Boys & Girls Clubs of America within 24 hours.

Safety Trainings: Ongoing training and supervision of staff is critical. We participate in a wide variety of child safety training conducted such as safety and supervision, mandated reporting and incident reporting.

Safety Assessments: We complete mandatory internal safety assessments each year to ensure we continually make improvements to safety at all of our Club locations. Additionally, we are subject to Boys & Girls Club of America safety assessments (most recently completed in Q4 2025).

Safety Committee: We have a dedicated safety committee made up of Board members and staff to provide input and guidance on local policies and safety strategies. Priorities and initiatives include youth safety, staff safety, and incident reporting.

Supervision Restrictions: Boys & Girls Clubs of Lawrence is committed to providing a safe environment for members, staff, and volunteers. To further ensure their safety, the organization prohibits all one-on-one interactions between Club members and staff and volunteers (including board members). All staff and volunteers must abide by the following:

• Ensure all meetings and communications between members and staff or volunteers are never private.
• Ensure in-person meetings take place in areas where other staff and/or members are present.
• Communicate to another staff member whenever an emergency arises that necessitates an exception to this policy.
• Never initiate private or isolated one-on-one contact with a member.
• Never have a private or isolated meeting or communication with a member. This includes in-person meetings and virtual communications such as texting, video chat and social media between only a staff member or volunteer and a single member.
• Never transport one Club member at a time. This includes transportation in Club or leased vehicles.
• Exceptions may only be made when delivering medical or counseling services by a licensed, trained therapist, or similar professional. All exceptions shall be documented and provided to Club leadership in advance. For questions about counseling services, please reach out to Alex Hilliard, Director of Social Emotional Learning, at ahilliard@bgclk.org.

America’s young people deserve nothing less than our constant focus on their safety and our firm commitment to protect every child who is entrusted to our care at Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence.