In Center City Allentown, near the corner of 6th and Greenleaf Streets, the afternoon hums with daily life. Three-story row homes stand close above the street, a neighborhood bodega buzzes with customers, a pizzeria’s neon flickers on, and music spills from open windows as the block settles into its after-school rhythm.
If you didn’t know what to look for, you just might miss the ochre brick building with the bright blue doors.
Behind those doors lies the future.
“Great futures start here” is the motto of the Boys and Girls Club of Allentown, aka The Club. Serving the youth of Allentown since 1937, today’s club reaches about 200 children each day through after-school programming that includes sports, fitness, arts, gardening, education, technology, careers, health, and life skills.
Indira Alvarado ’26 spent a transformational summer interning at The Club — a role that has since grown into committee work as she helps organize the Great Futures Celebration honoring longtime board member Elizabeth Ortiz, Ph.D.’25. The two quickly discovered how much they share — starting with the city that raised them.
A Shared Allentown Heritage
Both women grew up in Allentown, and while a generation separates them, the same city blocks that shaped Ortiz's childhood later shaped Alvarado's, instilling in both a love of community and a determination to uplift others. Hard-working and passionate, they now share a commitment to creating opportunities for the next generation of Allentown's youth.
Both chose to stay close to home for college. Ortiz attended Cedar Crest as an undergraduate. Years later, as Alvarado began her own college search, she initially crossed Lehigh off her list. Her mother insisted she visit anyway. Alvarado felt drawn to Lehigh but resisted at first because she wanted to go to school in Philadelphia. Still, her mother encouraged her to apply, and when she was accepted, she had to admit what she already knew: She really liked it. Lehigh felt welcoming, and opportunities on campus seemed open and full of possibility.
She soon found herself on South Mountain. Although Alvarado got involved on campus and navigated the academic demands, her transition to college wasn’t easy. Alvarado focused those common first-year challenges into an internship. As a political science major, she joined the re-election campaign for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
That work took her door to door in downtown Allentown. She found purpose in helping people register to vote, learn about the issues, and take part in the political process. She helped one woman to register by showing her solidarity as a Spanish speaker and then arranged a ride to the polls. That woman did cast her vote, which made Alvarado proud.
When the re-election campaign ended successfully, Alvarado searched for a new outlet. Tumbao, Lehigh’s Latin and Caribbean dance troupe, became her focus and helped her find her community of friends to share their culture. She started as social media chair her freshman year and is now president. She’d danced since she was three and was a 7-year-old when her mother enrolled her classes at Xcape, a studio in Allentown offering opportunities for under-resourced children.
Finding The Club
During her junior year, Alvarado sought an internship at a nonprofit, inspired by Sociology in Education, a course she took for her minor.
“I had learned about the inequities faced by many children that are inherently built into (school) districts,” she says. “So I wanted to do something to support the children in my own zip code.”
She applied to several internships but had her heart set on The Club. The staff were immediately impressed by her interview. While they met with many students, Alvarado stood out for her preparation and enthusiasm.
“Her answers were thoughtful, her questions good, and her energy was just what we wanted for the kids and work here,” says Kathryn Best, director of programs and operations.
“We seek team members who are rooted in our mission,” says Katarah A. Jordan, The Club’s CEO. “The children are at the center of our decisions as an organization. We want to serve the whole child and their family. Our summer intern program, while new, would help us to broaden our capacity to plan and execute impactful initiatives for the children.”
The same commitment to Allentown's youth has long guided Ortiz’s involvement with The Club. She was working as the only full-time Latina faculty member at her alma mater when a longtime friend of The Club encouraged her to join the board of directors. That was 19 years ago, and she has been serving ever since.
Beyond her board role of guiding the organization's direction, Ortiz has also contributed to its programming. During the annual Media Literacy Week, she invited Club members to her campus to explore how media shapes perceptions of race, identity, and power and to learn how to question and analyze those messages. Together, they discussed how young people of color are represented — or overlooked — and how the media often profits from their stories. The visit ended with a campus tour where Club kids explored classrooms, met and talked with college students (in English and Spanish), and, ultimately, began to see such environments as places where they belong.
“Being on campus is a profound way to shift their perspective,” says Ortiz. “It allows them to rethink who belongs in these spaces and to begin imagining themselves here in higher education.”
Impact at Club
Alvarado had her share of profound experiences across The Club’s programs. She drove social media engagement, which drew admiring attention from community members and nonprofit partners. She asked good questions of Pennsylvania politicians during a government relations committee meeting. She participated in the first club-wide field day and even attended board meetings.
“I wanted to give Indira a full understanding of the organization as a whole,” says Jordan. “She was able to see our leadership discuss hard issues around funding and grants. It gave her a better picture of what we navigate, but it also showed our executives the brilliance of young adults who come from and care about the city of Allentown.”
Her brilliance went to astronomical lengths. Through a partnership with NASA, The Club hosted scientists to teach and conduct experiments. At the end of the program, participating partners across the country were invited to enter a video contest.
The children decided they would interview each other much like they peppered the visiting scientists with questions. Alvarado followed the lead of the children and used her post-production skills to edit and add graphics.
When a letter came to The Club, the children had to read it twice before the news sank in: They’d won! They will travel to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland for a two-day symposium of amazing experiences. But their only concern was this: “Will Indira be there with us?”
Alvarado plans to go. She also plans on sticking around. The team keeps asking for her opinion, which leads to new ideas and new initiatives. Like the dance workshop she and Tumbao plan to bring to The Club.
Her Hispanic heritage motivates her to represent Club kids in Allentown who look like her and show them what’s possible.
“I am grateful for what I learned and to be able to fight for these kids,” says Alvarado. “Their dreams and aspirations — I want to see those great futures through.”
