Boys & Girls Teen Club to relocate in 2021

Five years after opening its doors in the Maxwell Village Shopping Center, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley is giving up the lease on its teen-centric club location.

Club CEO Cary Snowden told the Index-Tribune that while the program “continues to thrive,” because it is a free offering, “the financial sustainability of the building itself is just too much with the onset of COVID.”

“We’ve always known taking over that big space was a financial stretch,” she said, and expressed her appreciation to the supporters that the program over the past five years.

Snowden also said that Town Improvement Co., owners of the Maxwell Village Shopping Center, have been a “gracious host” to the club since 2015 and expressed disappointment over the decision.

She stressed that the teen program is not being disbanded, just moving to a new “creative” location that has not yet been announced.

A large “For Lease” sign is now posted on the front of the club, which is located in a former bank building and adjacent to a Starbuck’s coffee shop.

The Teen Club lease goes through the end of 2021 but Snowden said that if a new tenant is identified, the club will move out earlier. She does not expect any reduction in teen programming in the meantime. The Teen Club is currently overseen by Eric Gonzalez.

Prior to the Club Maxwell Village opening, the teen program operated out of a double-wide portable unit of 900 square feet – a tight squeeze, compared to the shopping center space of 3,000 square feet.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Sonoma was founded in 1962. The club was originally located in the Sonoma Community Center and, for a short time, on First Street West. The Maxwell Farms Regional Park clubhouse was completed in 2000.

The club expanded its membership to include high school students in 2009. There are currently 2,622 members, ages 6 to 18, served out of five school sites, plus the two club buildings.

For more information, email Snowden at csnowden@bgcsonoma.org.

Reach Lorna at lorna.sheridan@sonomanews.com.