Friars Club is a 163-year old non-profit 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 Over-the-Rhine in 1860 to help German immigrant parents keep their children safe and busy after school. During the Great Depression, a new facility was built at 65 W. McMillan that continued to serve not only inner-city youth but children all over the Greater Cincinnati area. This building on McMillan — located in Clifton — 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Faced with the realities of rising costs and outdated facilities, the Board of Trustees of Friars Club recommended to the Franciscan Friars (the Membership of the Corporation) that the building at 65 West McMillan be closed in June 2005. The fortress-like facility, a neighborhood landmark, is best known for a youth sports program that serves 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.