Children

• Being a Director is learning how to take responsibility for the direction of this organization, good bad or indifferent. It is understanding the climate and adjusting to the left or the right. It is also being able to lead with conviction and expecting good results on the return. It can be rewarding as well as frustrating but either way, the mission and vision must be carried out.
• I enjoy working with the community as a whole but especially the children. Knowing that I am instrumental in their learning and advancement makes what I do that much more important “to me”. I learn how to adjust the way we instruct t fit their needs at that moment and it changes periodically based off of what type children we are serving….ADHD, Special Needs with Learning Disabilities, children from home with incarcerated parents, abused children and more. They all require something different. What I least like is I serve people that I grow up with and more times than a few, I have to have hard conversations with them. When they are not receptive of the outcome, it makes it difficult to “deal” with them in the community, being that it’s a small community and everyone knows everyone.
• I look to hire people who can buy into our Organization Mission and Vision. I especially look for those who not only like children, but those who can still work with children who misbehave, who may not be kind to others, children with disabilities. I also seek out those with the ability to work well in unorganized chaos because sometimes we get that even in structured settings. Overall I look for versatility and compatibility with that of our organization and how we serve.
• Our mission is “to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens”. We have over 50 programs to teach and every one of them are designed to assist them in every way possible to achieve this. My responsibility is to ensure that we give them a chance to experience these classes in an effort to create an environment for success. From our Money Matters class to Smart Girls, Passport to Manhood, Healthy Habits to Character and Leadership…Combine them as a whole would help foster them to reach their full potential and success.
• We do engage in larger system level change. We have two programs that stick out the most. Healthy Habits and we utilize Stopbullying.gov Healthy Habits covers topics anywhere from Abstinence, No smoking and drinking, Healthy Eating Habits and Friendships. We work with Stopbullying.gov as well to try as much as possible to eliminate the activities and habits that leads to bullying and harassment.
• We receive grants through the government agencies, State and Federal and they are very strict on what is and isn’t allowed as the funds are being used. I think that it helps that we have certain policies and rules to adhere to because it will keep us in line with the mission. Knowing that we will be held accountable for ensuring that we do our part in order to maintain our grants will produce a better effort and outcome.

7. The 2 most difficult things we are dealing with right now is disciplinary infractions and parent buy in. We are doing what we can as we go as every most cases are individual but it causes a disruption for all. We have monthly parent engagement activities and has made it mandatory to participate in the program that parents attend 1 Engagement Activity and one Parent Involvement activity so that parents can get an idea of what exactly our mission is and how they can assist.

Children today are influenced by everything around them. I can’t point out one thing in general only that everything on TV, internet, and community is influencing their actions. There is not one consistent thing I can see that’s more on the positive side that’s influencing them for the better. Every home is different and when you combine those beliefs  and behaviors in an structured environment you get pushback on every side.