Heights Youth Club names new director

Rodney Collins is the new director of the Heights Youth Club.

Rodney Collins, an experienced youth leader and boxing fitness instructor, has been named director of the Heights Youth Club (HYC), located at 2065 Lee Road. HYC is one of 14 sites operated by Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland (BGCC).

Collins will be in charge of all operations at HYC; he served as director of the BGCC’s Broadway Club for the past 18 months.

“The Boys & Girls Club is a place where kids come first and they matter,” said Collins.

Collins grew up in Toledo, where he played football, basketball and track. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Bowling Green State University (BGSU) and master’s degrees in religion and divinity from Liberty University. He moved to Cleveland in 1995. Collins has more than 20 years of experience in the corporate and nonprofit worlds.

“Rodney Collis is a great representative to the community,” BGCC President Ron Soeder said. “He is very effective in communicating to our community partners and building those relationships.”

Collins and his wife, Falanda, have been married for 20 years and live in South Euclid. They have two children, daughter Anointyd, a freshman at BGSU, and son Josiah, a senior at Andrews Osborne Academy.

HYC offers Heights students in grades one through 12 a variety of after-school activities, five days a week, 3–7 p.m. The club currently serves more than 300 young people.

Founded in 1954, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland serves nearly 8,000 youths in Cleveland’s inner-city neighborhoods, Cleveland Heights and East Cleveland. The clubs provide a safe place for children to learn and grow, to develop ongoing relationships with caring adult professionals, to engage in life-enhancing programs and to create a culture of hope and opportunity. BGCC’s mission is to inspire and enable young people, especially those in need, to reach their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.