'This is in my DNA': Robert Lewis Jr. prepares to lead Boys and Girls Club of Boston

Updated Feb. 9 at 11:13 a.m.

Community leader Robert Lewis Jr. doesn’t like the words “underserved” and “disadvantaged” when talking about the Boston youth he serves. Instead, he prefers language like “investment” and “opportunity.”

“For too many years, others have defined our community and told that story,” Lewis, Jr. said. “The only thing that young folks are 'at risk' of is success.”

At the end of the month, Lewis will transition from his work as the founder of The BASE, a Roxbury-based sports training and academic prep program, to become president of the Boys and Girls Club of Boston. He joined Boston Public Radio to talk about his experiences at The BASE and goals for his new role.

For Lewis, leading Boston’s Boys and Girls Club is personal: he grew up attending Boston Public Schools and went to his local boys club in East Boston.

“It has so much to do with who I am,” he said. “The role that the Salesian Boys Club played in my life — the mentoring, the sports, the place to go after school — its impact in neighborhoods, and so many of those values I have carried with me, honestly, throughout my career.”

Coming full circle, Lewis said, is an experience that will help him in his new role.

“I grew up in this city, the city raised me,” he said. “I also happen to be a Black man from this city that had to fight through racism and other things that affected my life. … So I bring the experience every day of growing up and being part of this city and being raised by leaders of the city, and that's going to be critically important.”

At The BASE and soon at The Boys and Girls Club of Boston, Lewis views his work as investing in young people. He said youth everywhere have talent, but many urban kids are missing access and opportunities to put those talents into action.

More than 90% of the youth Lewis worked with at The BASE got into college or a workforce development program this past year. The community leader said he feels excited to work on those same goals at a larger scale with The Boys and Girls Club of Boston.

“I call it part of that extended pipeline, where the schools are providing this opportunity of education, socialization, the club continues that pipeline throughout the evening and on weekends,” Lewis said, emphasizing how The BASE brought college and career resources to youth. “That's where community change really occurs, right on the ground, in the neighborhood and with those families.”

Lewis called on Boston’s business, higher education and other industries to view the students he works with not as "at-risk," but as future leaders.

“If we don't see our young folks as that urban talent pipeline to the future, then we will consider them at-risk, a disadvantage, but if we see our young folks as this future talent pipeline in the workforce, then we better invest in them now to do that,” he said.

Amid the pandemic, the racial reckoning brought by George Floyd’s murder and constant debates over the state of education in the United States, Lewis emphasized that this work is more important than ever. He fell seriously ill with COVID-19 in 2020 — fighting for his life in the hospital — and woke up with even more resolve.

“This is in my DNA,” Lewis said. “This is who I am. This is what I believe in. … This is what I'm supposed to be doing.”

Robert Lewis Jr. is founder of The BASE in Roxbury, which he has led for the past nine years. In March, he will become president of the Boys and Girls Club of Boston.

Update: This story was updated to clarify that Lewis, Jr., will be leading the Boys and Girls Club of Boston, not the national organization.