McGruff Club Debuts

Al Lenhardt, President and CEO

I have great news to report to you! The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) has recently partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) to introduce our new McGruff Club to six BGCA sites in California, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. Nearly 40 adults attended the facilitator training events, and 360 children participated in kickoff events at the sites. Additional training sessions will take place around the country later this year.

For more than 25 years McGruff the Crime Dog has been educating America on preventing crime and staying safe. Now McGruff will engage children ages six to ten in a new way through McGruff Club. McGruff Club members will learn what they can do to prevent crime and violence in their communities, and they will undertake service projects to make their communities safer. As they do their projects, McGruff Club members will develop important life skills including cooperation, empathy, and responsible decision making, as they will build positive relationships with peers, law enforcement officers, and other caring community members.

Participant response to McGruff Club has been overwhelmingly positive. According to BGCA directors and staff, McGruff Club goals complement those of BGCA and also meet a need by providing a mechanism to engage young children in service to the community.

Some comments captured from post-training evaluations include the following:

“Our children need this and hopefully it will deter them from some negative behaviors.”

“[McGruff Club] can get children to understand why it’s important to prevent crime; the [McGruff Club] kit is very helpful.”

“Keep this program running; it’s cheaper to put a kid through school than through jail.…”

“Today’s training shows me the importance of keeping children safe and how to get help from other organizations in the community.”

Highlights of McGruff Club implementation to date include

• Two hundred children attended the McGruff Club kickoff event in Los Angeles, CA.

• BGCA staff and social workers from Catholic Services participated in the facilitator training in southeastern Michigan. Staff felt that McGruff Club would provide a good opportunity for children to get involved in service, increasing their interest in participating in Torch Club or Keystone (BGCA national programs) when they are older.

• The BGCA in Lac Courte Oreilles-Hayward, WI, plans to implement McGruff Club as a core education component during its summer camp.

NCPC plans to evaluate McGruff Club by measuring its impact on children’s crime prevention knowledge, their attitudes about staying safe, and responsible decision making.  

In order to prevent crime, we must teach our youngest citizens to become responsible and caring members of their communities.  

For more information on McGruff Club, contact Lori Brittain at 202-261-4161 or at lbrittain@ncpc.org.