Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) is a national organization of local chapters which provide voluntary after-school programs for young people.

[2] The first Boys' Club was founded in 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut, by three women, Elizabeth Hamersley and sisters Mary and Alice Goodwin.

"A hand to guide me" features examples from leaders as they tell their life-changing stories of mentorship, when as youngsters they were guided by a caring adult, which shaped the rest of their life, including over 70 of America's leading personalities in theatre, sports, business, and politics such as Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Whoopi Goldberg, Muhammad Ali, Yogi Berra, Toni Morrison, Cal Ripken Jr. and Colin Powell.

[12] The donation was to be allocated to help grow the group's national STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) curriculum.

[12] According to Mimi LeClair, president and CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago, it is very important for young people to have a solid background in STEM to compete in the global economy.