BGCB’s first Club was founded in Charlestown in 1893. The annual report from that year describes “carpentry, printing and painting” as the core programs for our members. Other Clubs followed in the subsequent years, and, in 1972, The Boston Foundation helped put the “girls” in the Boys & Girls Clubs by providing a $300,000, three-year grant to reach out to “special categories of youth who lack opportunities for appealing programs.” These were children who spoke Chinese or Spanish at home, lived in certain housing projects, or were girls.