A Look at 2021

January 4, 2022| Club News| Michael Sein

A Look at 2021 from CEO, Drew Glassford

While there were many challenges for our communities this past year, because of your generous support – I am pleased to share we have much to celebrate. We are blessed with an extraordinary and hard-working team, committed community partners, and generous donors who have all helped make a difference in the lives of our children and families. As 2021 draws to a close – we wanted to share a few of our highlights with you.

We’ve expanded our after-school programming into Lake-in-the-Hills Elementary school, welcoming Jon Nawrocki as a new Site Director, and restarted our program at Sunny Hill Elementary School, welcoming Kara Fuerholzer as its new Site Director.

We welcomed Jen Farag as our new Director of 21^st Century Learning Centers to further develop our collaboration with our school district and community partners to improve our efficacy in academic support, family support, and community engagement. Jen also revamped our STEM programming this year by helping develop a weekly STEM kit curriculum, which are circulating each site to enhance members’ interest in STEM and to encourage children to find their niche. Tripti Math became our full-time Director of STEM Programs to focus on this key area of emphasis for our members.

Kendra Allen joined our team as Director of Social Emotional Learning to develop and implement our positive behavior support programs, staff, and member wellness and lead our Impact Center High School Mentoring program.

We welcomed Michelle Maison as our new Director of Development, focusing on donor and prospect relationship management, improving and enhancing our donor experiences, and engaging new investors in our mission.

Kayla Caldwell joined our team as our Volunteer Engagement Coordinator, serving a vital role in facilitating opportunities for community members to give their time and talents for mentoring, academic support, arts, music, and sports.

We launched our Pre-Apprenticeship Career Pathway Program with Elgin Community College at the Impact Center, where members will earn a qualification credential that will enable them to enroll directly into ECC’s apprenticeships in local companies. We are pleased to welcome Jack VanNoord as our Build Lab Workforce Experience Director at the Center. We also launched our community outreach and youth mentoring services program with the Kane County Local Workforce Innovation board and promoted Will Tunstall to the role of Impact Center Site Director.

We launched our inaugural AmeriCorps Youth Development Professional program, and have begun recruiting 16 part-time high school and college student staff to support our academic remediation and STEM programs at our sites.

With the generous support of Wickstrom Automotive Group, we purchased a new van to give more children access to enrichment activities from our elementary and middle schools sites.

We launched our program partnerships with First Tee, Friends of the Fox, and Kaleidoscope to provide richer internal and external experiences for our kids.

We launched our partnership with Dundee Crown High School’s special education team to use the Impact Center for workforce experience and training for students with special needs.

Our community partners continued to provide their amazing support for our kids, including the extraordinary collaborative efforts of School Districts 300 and 220 to navigate challenging pandemic program impacts, Dundee Township Park District for their continued support for our athletic/sports programs and golf outing, Carpentersville and Dundee Township Rotary Clubs for their coat drive, scholarships, and toy donations; Algonquin/Lake-in-the-Hills Chamber of Commerce for the holiday toy drive, and Barrington Youth and Family Services for their advisory role for our Social Emotional Learning program.

Our Great Futures Golf Outing and Tennies and Ties Gala special events set revenue records this year – demonstrating our community’s amazing generosity, belief, and investment in our mission to make a difference for our kids who need us the most.

Your support helped our Club members be active and feel valued, and we all adapted together to serve our children and families in the best way possible. If it sounds like a lot, it was, and we are very grateful and proud to be able to do so much for our communities.

We are now looking toward the future and the potential for more growth for our organization. We have several compelling opportunities to consider for 2022 – a year when we will also be celebrating the accomplishments of 25 years of service as the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dundee Township. We are extremely excited to celebrate this milestone together, to take these next steps, and what it means for kids and families in our communities.

I’m excited to share several staff promotions beginning in 2022. Michele Clark will be serving as our Director of Operations, overseeing both our primary and secondary site operations and staff. Michele was formerly our Director of Primary Operations and has provided exceptional leadership to further develop our community partner relationships, staff, programs, and systems during a very challenging time. Mike Berger will serve as Director of Strategic Initiatives, overseeing our sports and athletics programs, entrepreneurship initiatives, corporate community partner engagement, and program expansion opportunities. Mike has been a valued leader for BGCDT since day one, 25 years ago. His passion and experience continue to add to the success of our mission. Isaiah DeLaCruz will be serving as our Director of Grant Compliance, working with our operations team to provide reporting required for our 21^st Century Learning Center, Teen Reach, AmeriCorps, and Kane County LWIA grants. Isaiah brings strong experience, passion, and organizational skills to this important role.

While this last year has brought additional hardship and uncertainty to many, it makes us feel extra grateful for what we have been able to accomplish together. Thank you to our Board of Directors, community partners, staff, friends of the Club, and our generous donors for helping us serve our mission and improve the lives of children and families. We are hopeful and confident that 2022 will be another year of celebrations – and look forward to our continued work together. We appreciate all you have done for us.

Warmest regards,

Drew Glassford

Chief Executive Officer

Boys & Girls Clubs of Dundee Township

bgcdt.org

Last modified: January 7, 2022

A Look at 2021

A Look at 2021 from CEO, Drew Glassford

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