A homework room at a Hollywood Boys & Girls Club has become a national marker. The Marti Huizenga Club, at 1111 North 69th Way, opened its new Center of Hope on Monday, Oct. 26, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America says it is the 200th such center the program has opened across the country.

The centers are learning rooms built inside existing clubs with money from the Panda Cares Foundation, the charitable arm of Panda Express. Each club picked for one receives a $45,000 grant to refresh a room and add new programs. In Hollywood, that means a space set up for homework help, tutoring and technology after the school bell.

Where it sits, and who it serves

The Marti Huizenga Club is run by Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County and sits beside Hollywood Park Elementary School and Apollo Middle School. According to the national organization, the club serves more than 300 young people.

It is the second Center of Hope in Broward County. The first opened in 2024 at the William E. Slaughter Jr. Club on the S. Robert Levine Campus in Pompano Beach. Hollywood's opening brings the number of these centers in Florida to nine, from Jacksonville to Kendall.

What happens in the room

Every Center of Hope runs Project Learn, the Boys & Girls Clubs program for the hours after school. It pairs homework help and tutoring with reading and writing time, conversations with adult mentors, peer study and games built around problem solving and teamwork. Clubs shape each room to their own members, and across the country they have added reading nooks, teen spaces, technology areas and early learning corners.

How the 200th came together

The partnership between Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Panda Cares began in 2020. The first Center of Hope opened in Chicago in 2022, and the 100th followed in Los Angeles in 2024. The program says the Hollywood room is the halfway point toward a goal of 400 centers by 2030. Since 2020, Panda Cares has committed more than $75.5 million to Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

How families can join

Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County serves members ages 6 to 18, and annual membership is $15 a year. Six-year-olds must be in first grade. Club hours during the school year are 2 to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 2 to 8 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, with longer hours on early release days and days when school is out. The organization notes that space is limited.

Where: Marti Huizenga Club, 1111 North 69th Way, Hollywood
Phone: (954) 983-0626
Ages: 6 to 18
Membership: $15 a year
Sign up: bgcbc.org or (954) 537-1010

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