Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Jeffrey Hamilton

Abstract

The purpose of the project was to transform the Boys & Girls Club of Cleveland County Board of Directors (the Club) from an executive-directed organization to an organization that encouraged Board member involvement. Our goal was to serve more kids every day, expand facilities, take functional responsibility of the operation of the Club while finding more funding sources to meet the budget. The organization needed to change or it would not be in existence. Using Kotter’s Eight Step Change Model, the leadership team worked to create a sense of urgency for the change process. Strategic planning sessions established goals and objectives to be achieved to transform the organization from an autocratic leadership style to a participative style of leadership. The emphasis of the project was to achieve the major goal of serving more kids every day. Over the 30-month period, the Club grew from serving an average of 70 children a day to serving over 140 children a day at three separate locations. The Teen Center and an extension unit at Graham Elementary School are open and operational. The organizational budget has grown by 52% with funding sources from grants and foundations increasing by over 200%. The functional committees of the Board have taken ownership of a wide variety of tasks formerly part of the executive director’s role. The creation of the Emeritus Board has enabled the Club to involve more diversified, younger Board members. In Boys & Girls Club of America National Youth Outcome Initiative survey of Club performance, the Cleveland County Club performed higher than the national average in seven of eight areas. Today, the Club is a high-performing organization serving twice as many children.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Included in

Education Commons

Share

COinS