Scott Swanson
In her second year as executive director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Greater Santiam, Kris Latimer is looking to stabilize the organization’s finances and continue developing programs that will benefit the young members, she told attendees at the organization’s Annual Meeting Feb. 18.
Latimer, who came to the club in February of 2012 after serving as chief executive officer of The Oregon Consortium and The Oregon Workforce Alliance, noted that the gathering used to be an annual event for the club, but had not been held since “2008 or 2009.” She said her intent is to get it back to its former status, “when the room was full.”
She and staff members detailed for some 25 attendees the various programs the club has instituted over the past couple of years.
Last year, she said, the club provided more than 3,200 hours of programs and services in its Lebanon, Sweet Home and Lacomb branches to more than 4,000 children, including nearly 2,700 members.
She and staffers said programs offered by the club include study hall activities in which children get help with homework from staffers and volunteers, and training in technology, arts and crafts, cooking and gardening, and volunteerism and civic responsibility.
“What we’re trying to create is a platform of achievement,” said Tyler Grove, activities director at the Lebanon branch. “We want to trick kids into success through enjoyable activities.”
Those included visits by professional artists, cooking classes, a new technology lab that, Grove said, “provides a platform for these kids that will change their lives,” trail clearing and planting trees, and more.
The club plays an important role in providing recreation and opportunities for competition through athletics, Grove said, noting that in Lebanon, where junior high sports are not offered by the schools, that is particularly important.
Latimer said the goal is to prepare children to be successful academically, appreciate arts and creativity, engage in healthy lifestyles and reduce obesity, learn to be safe, care for others and their community, and, generally, “be active and engaged.”
“What we are trying to do is create a safe place where kids can be successful,” she said, adding that it seems to be working. “They’re begging to stay and they’re not begging to stay and eat cookies.”
One big contributor to the club’s activities has been a partnership with Comp Northwest medical school students from Lebanon, who interact weekly with children at both the Sweet Home and Lebanon clubs.
Latimer said the club is not where she wants it to be financially, noting that it finished 2013 in the red, despite a total income of slightly over $1.3 million.
“This has been a rough year,” she said. “We’ve been slow to pay some bills and I feel bad about that. But we’ll get there. Nobody wants this to go away.”
She said that a decision was made last week to close the Lacomb branch, which was not well-attended, and she said her goals for 2014 include stabilizing income through “resource diversification and increased fund-raising.” Part of that, she said, will include establishing an endowment to ensure a steady flow of income.
Also on the agenda is building the teen program in both Lebanon and Sweet Home, including work experience opportunities for young people. She also wants to increase the number of volunteers who help out at the facilities, from the 325 who participated last year.
Latimer noted that Sweet Home director Mollie Kerins has had to resign due to family demands and she is searching for a replacement to head the programs at the Community Center. She said she is also interested in adding board members who represent the Sweet Home area.
Latimer said she sees the club as a means of boosting the local economy, both in Sweet Home and Lebanon, which was one of the reasons she took the executive director position.
“What attracted me to the club was that I saw it as a diamond in the rough to help the East Linn County economy develop,” she said. “We’re not only developing youth but we’re developing economic opportunity. We want any child from any economic background to succeed. We want a prepared workforce. If we do this right, we will have more kids graduating from secondary education and going to college.”
She said those principles play out “even more, the farther east you go in Linn County.”
The economic benefits should not be just in the future either, she added.
When local companies bring in prospective employees, Latimer said, “I want them to be able to say, ‘We have a great school system and an amazing Boys and Girls Club.’”