Daphne Barlow wanted to make one thing crystal clear about the new Boys & Girls Club opening in Lewisville.
“No, it does not have a fire pole,” Barlow said with a laugh. “That’s the number one question that I get.”
It’s a fair one. The new club, located at 195 W. Corporate Drive, is a repurposed Lewisville fire station the city gifted the nonprofit earlier this year.
Missing fire pole aside, the new community facility is groundbreaking in more ways than one. When the building opens Aug. 19, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County will have filled a significant gap in North Texas, as Denton was the largest county in the nation without a dedicated branch. The county last had locations in 2019.
“Being able to have something like this — not just a road, but an asset that’s valuable for the community — I think it’s a really great story of thinking outside the box,” Lewisville Mayor TJ Gilmore said.
It cost $5 million to reimagine the decommissioned fire station. The 10,000-square-foot building comes with 25-foot ceilings and an outside area being redesigned for a playground.
Identifying a need
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County began servicing Denton County in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic with a mobile clubhouse, said Barlow, who serves as president and CEO of the Tarrant branch.
Services offered through the unit include tutoring, hands-on STEM programs, field trips and academic counseling. The resource consists of four vehicles and a setup of tents and tables.
“(The mobile clubhouse) is a fundamental way that we bring the best parts of Boys & Girls Clubs to kids who can’t reach us where we are,” Barlow said.
Currently, the mobile clubhouse is deployed to six locations in Denton County — two in Denton proper and four in Lewisville. The organization’s total investment totaled more than $700,000 from 2021 to 2026 and included a robotics pilot program with four Denton ISD schools.
The Greater Tarrant County branch’s investment filled a standing need since 2019, when the Boys & Girls Clubs of North Central Texas suspended operations ahead of the school year. The nonprofit chapter had locations in Sanger and Lake Dallas, two cities on opposite sides of Denton County.
“When we had the Boys & Girls Clubs, it was successful for the time that it was there, but it had just fallen off because we didn’t have a permanent place,” Denton County Commissioner Bobbie J. Mitchell said.
Mitchell was an early champion of the program. The commissioner, whose district includes Lewisville and Flower Mound, said the need for these after-school programs didn’t go away just because the former chapter did.
She noted that although recorded rates of child poverty have gone down in recent years, 5.9% of children in the county still live below the federal poverty line.
“It’s not just after-school care. It’s an investment in the kids,” Mitchell added.
Building structure
Barlow first spoke with commissioners publicly in February 2022. Back then, she was careful not to overpromise on building a physical facility within a certain time frame.
Primary steps didn’t involve identifying a location for a facility but rather building connections in an area with which the Tarrant nonprofit was unfamiliar.
The new club, located at 195 W. Corporate Drive in Lewisville, will include an outside court and playground. (Courtesy | Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County)
“It’s not only about partnership, but it’s about support,” Denton County Judge Andy Eads said. “It’s about support to identify new and future donors. It’s about identifying volunteers. It’s about communicating that this is an asset so that the public knows how to avail themselves of it and take advantage.”
That was the nonprofit’s priority for years, Barlow said, way before the Lewisville fire station became an option.
When the opportunity to move forward with a location in Lewisville opened up, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County decided to move forward with the proposition.
“We’re very grateful that we’ve had the opportunity to raise some money to renovate the property, and we’re in the process of putting the final touches on the building to open it up in time for kids to attend at the start of school,” Barlow said.
The club is situated around Lewisville ISD schools that Barlow said have the most need.
“The data really did help inform our enthusiasm around accepting the location and deciding to build it out as our first Boys & Girls Club branch,” Barlow added.
Built on successful fundraising and $3 million from the county, the Lewisville chapter will be able to start serving students this school year. Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County estimated more than 6,000 kids per year will benefit from the redesigned firehouse.
But the benefits of having this location are not limited to local students.
Barlow said the nonprofit plans to use the branch as a distribution point to send the mobile clubhouse to more Denton County communities.
And Mitchell hopes the location’s potential success spurs more chapters countywide.
“I’m dreaming big,” Mitchell said.
Ismael M. Belkoura is the nonprofit editor for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from North Texas Community Foundation. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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