South San Francisco Boys & Girls Club gets revamp

“We currently serve 6,700 students across 30 sites all the way up to Daly City,” Peninsula Boys & Girls Club CEO Jennifer Obiaya said. “These are designed to be hubs of the community, where families can come and take advantage of our programming. This year, we are projected to actively serve 520 students from kindergarten all the way to college and through college in South San Francisco.”

The existing facility, owned by the city, was constructed in 1961 and is in need of significant updates, according to a staff report. Currently, it serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade but plans to allocate one of the new buildings to high schoolers, increasing capacity to 300 students. Two of the demolished structures would be replaced with two-story buildings and accommodate more programming.

“We’re in bad need of day care, and we are in need of support for our students, with all the cutbacks and extracurricular activities and sports at various schools at various levels,” Planning Commissioner Sam Shihadeh said.

Obiaya said the facility is having trouble accommodating even its current age group due to high demand.

“Even with the existing footprint, we have a wait list … but what the clubhouse is not able to accommodate right now is high school students,” Obiaya said. “We do have really rich programs to work with high schoolers. Right now, those programs happen only at the high school campuses.”

The Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the facility updates and redesign.

“I will be supporting this project, particularly for the expansion for high school students,” Planning Commissioner John Baker said. “When I was on the school board I got a lot of parents complaining that there weren’t a lot of opportunities for older students to have a structured plan that many of them needed. … I look forward to having a facility that can service them.”