Not Luck, Leadership
There are hard times – and there is Flint.

Located just north of Detroit, long linked to the U.S. auto industry, Flint had a head start on economic woes long before the rest of America. It is a place where unemployment far exceeds the national average, where businesses close their doors on a regular basis, where urban blight and crime have risen dramatically. A place where “disinvestment, deindustrialization and depopulation” is the depressed and depressing forecast.

As part of this bleak pattern, our Boys & Girls Club in Flint closed its doors after nine years. Like so many other organizations in the beleaguered Michigan city, it succumbed to economic pressures.

Then Jamie Gaskin came to town.

A former AmeriCorps worker, Jamie also had Club experience. Plus an abundance of determination. He said to the remaining three board members, “Let me have a shot at rebuilding this Club.” And so Jamie became the chief professional officer – determined to fight, determined to lead, determined not to give up or give in.

The results? Today there is a new Boys & Girls Club building in Flint, complete with 1,300 happy Club kids, a financial surplus and an endowment. All because of the leadership, compassion and guts of one individual – a man who was determined not to give up, no matter what the odds.

Was it luck that the right person stepped up at the right time? I don’t believe so. The truth is, we are not lucky at all.

Rather, the success of our Movement is the result of our own making. The result of hard work, tenacity, commitment and dedication from some 50,000 staff, 30,000 board members and 140,000 volunteers. People like Jamie Gaskin. People like you.

Boys & Girls Clubs are where we are today because of our leadership, compassion and guts, because of our character. That is why we stand out above the rest, even in tough times. Because it’s not luck, it’s leadership.