Friars Club Inc

Friars Club is a 164-year-old nonprofit social service organization dedicated to serving the special needs of Cincinnati’s at-risk children through organized sports, education, nutrition, and fitness. Friars Club was established in 1860 to help German immigrant parents keep their children safe and busy after school. During the Great Depression, a new facility was built that continued to serve not only inner-city youth but children all over the Greater Cincinnati area. This building provided a broad scope of programs from prevention to treatment. It housed dependent youth, homeless families, community empowerment programs, and youth development programs. Faced with the realities of rising costs and outdated facilities, the Board of Trustees of Friars Club recommended to the Franciscan Friars (the Membership of the Corporation) that the building be closed in June 2006. The fortress-like facility, a neighborhood landmark, was best known for a youth sports program that served more than 600 youngsters in grades K-8. The youth sports program, which has always been the mainstay at Friars Club, has continued and the programs were conducted in temporary facilities: churches, schools, and community centers. The Friars Board, in agreement with our Franciscan sponsors, the Province of Saint John the Baptist, created a Facilities Steering Committee to lead the effort to design and seek funding for a new Friars Club. Friars Club broke ground on its new 3.5 million dollar facility located next to Roger Bacon High School in October 2013 and opened its doors in September of 2014. Today, Friars continues to provide organized athletics (basketball, baseball, and volleyball), education, and leadership programming for over boys and girls ages 4-17. All programs focus on values of respect, responsibility, leadership and good sportsmanship.