Programs

Where passions take flight.

Every BEP program began the same way: a Butterfly or Dragonfly said “I wish we could…” and BEP built it.

Core chapters

Where it all starts.

Evening chapters meet twice a month, 6 to 8pm, October through June, in communities across Suffolk County. Each chapter brings together Butterflies and Dragonflies ages 6 to 18 – on purpose. Younger members find role models sitting right next to them. Older members discover what it means to be one.

As participants grow, they take on real responsibility: leading meetings, planning events, settling conflicts, mentoring the little ones. Every session works from BEP’s curriculum, aligned with New York State learning standards and built on the Four Pillars, but no two chapters run the same, because no two communities are the same.

School chapters meet weekly during the school day, with a curriculum adapted for the classroom. Bring a chapter to your school →

The Dragonfly Chapter logoHome of the Butterfly & Dragonfly Chapters. Every chapter welcomes both — Butterflies leading the way since 2014, Dragonflies right beside them since the community asked.

There’s also a shirt. It means more than you’d think. The Earned Shirt →

Children and a mentor with purple hair sit cross-legged in a circle on a wooden floor.

The Arches

Passion-built programs

Not one Arch came from a strategic plan. They came from participants – a wish, an interest, a need – and BEP built an Arch to hold it. Every chapter member gets full access to all of them, free.

Environment

Intergenerational Garden Club

Thursdays with Ambassador Ms. Brie and Master Gardener Mr. Jonathan, growing food organically and sustainably. Last season, the garden tripled in size and grew over 1,200 pounds of produce with most of it feeding the community freezer.
Arts

Butterfly Monologues

A 12-to-14-week journey with teaching artist Ms. Julienne at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center. Participants write, rehearse, and then stand on a real stage under real lights and perform their own words.
Two youth paint a wooden BEP Garden Club sign outdoors, faces turned away.
Arts

WHBPAC Chapter

For families who caught the theater bug: singing, dancing, playwriting, and film. This one welcomes the whole family!
Academics

Butterfly Brains

Free tutoring, in person and remote, for learners ages 12 to 72. Yes, 72! Parents and grandparents study here too. At BEP, failure is not the end of anything. It’s information, and every bright brain gets the support to act on it.
Futures

College Access

Ms. Tia and Teen Transition Specialist Ms. Destiny walk each senior through applications, essays, SAT prep, financial planning, and the honest conversations about what comes next: college, trades, civil service, or the military. Nobody crosses the bridge to young adulthood alone.
Girls in purple Butterfly Effect shirts sit on a stage edge in a large auditorium.
Futures

College Retention

Getting in is half the story. This program supports BEP graduates through college with budget planning, monthly check-ins, resource mapping, and an emergency reserve fund, because a $200 textbook should never end a college career.
Careers

Job Readiness

Every spring, 6 to 8 weeks with Ms. Tara: résumés, interviews, workplace skills, all ending in real job placements with BEP’s partner employers.
Enterprise

Young Entrepreneurs Succeed (YES)

Participants build actual businesses with mentors who look like them with entrepreneurs in the culinary arts, banking, science, childcare, and more. Their finished products sell in the Butterfly Boutique, and the young makers earn real income.
Shop their creations →
A child in pink and an adult work together in a vegetable garden bed.
Justice

Butterfly Action Group (BAG)

Founded in 2020 by BEP graduate Azharia Allen, BAG meets weekly with Ms. Tia and Ms. Lisa to take on social and racial justice. Youth-led, from the issues they choose to the change they make.
Identity

Heritage Hive

A youth-led dig into ancestry and identity. Participants trace where they come from and tell the story in their own words. Because you stand taller when you know whose shoulders you’re on.
Careers

Future Teachers of Tomorrow

Students shadow the adults who run their schools – teachers, principals, nurses, security staff – and try the roles on for size.
Two boys at a table smile mid high-five during a chapter activity.
A girl in a pink shirt and tiara sits smiling at a banquet table.
Fitness

Nike Bootcamp

Once a month, the team from the Riverhead Nike store runs fitness sessions at Butterfly HQ. Loud, sweaty, and over too soon.
Support

The Circle Chapter

Some programs meet weekly. This one convenes only when a Butterfly is facing a crisis with guardians, volunteers, and staff closing ranks around a child, with care and complete confidentiality. Quiet strength, on call.

Dance at BEP

Four teams. One heartbeat.

Dance here mirrors the transformation the whole program is named for: caterpillar to butterfly, one season at a time.

Ages 5–9 · walk-on

Precious Pearls

The youngest dancers, and the heart of the program. Fridays feel like a birthday party with friends: playful, expressive, full of laughter. The Pearls quietly learn rhythm, teamwork, and how to be a good friend. Every Pearl belongs.
Ages 10–13 · junior majorette

Shooting Starz

Technique gets serious and Captains are earned through tryouts. This is where a dancer learns that discipline and joy are the same thing wearing different outfits.
Ages 14–18 · audition

Butterfly Blitz

The elite competition majorette team, and the only one on the East End. Founded by Butterfly alumna Alex Archer, Blitz carries the HBCU majorette tradition: power, precision, and pride in every eight-count. Excellence expected.
Ages 12–18 · audition · co-ed

The Elite Squad

BEP’s steppin’ drill team, the only competitive community step team on the East End. Every stomp, shout, and clap tells a story of power, unity, and resilience. They often perform alongside Butterfly Blitz, and together they are the heartbeat of BEP in motion.
A large group of girls in black project shirts and colorful tutus pose together in a hallway.
Youth practice on a dance studio floor while others watch.
Family support

We stand with the whole family.

Uplifting a child means making sure their family isn’t carrying impossible weight alone. BEP families have access to the community freezer, clothing from the Butterfly Closet, hygiene products, diapers and formula, school supplies, and holiday support including meals for the table and gifts under the tree.

No applications. No proving anything. Just neighbors taking care of neighbors.

An organized commercial freezer drawer holds labeled bags of food ready for families.

Opportunity knocks

Experiences that stretch the world open

Trips that leave the map

Museums, Washington D.C., horseback riding, sailing lessons on the bay, swim lessons, camping. Some of our kids had never left Long Island before BEP. Some had never been in a pool. Watching a first – any first – never gets old.

Summer Opportunity Stipends

Every summer, BEP provides stipends so participants can attend camps, arts programs, academic enrichment, sports, even driving lessons for the older ones.

The Move Up Ceremony

The whole BEP family, gathered once a year to celebrate every child who earned their next tier. The loudest, proudest night on the calendar.

Every Arch is donor-built. Sponsor a program ($5,000–$10,000) or an entire chapter for a year ($15,000, serving 15–25 youth) and watch what grows. Sponsor →

Three men stand in front of a white Butterfly Effect Project branded shuttle bus.

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