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Kristen Allen - Committment to Kids
By: Dawn Boyer

As Director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Illinois, Kristin Allen only needs to open her office door in order to interact with the kids her agency serves. Her involvement with children began years before, when she volunteered to be a board member for a local youth organization. She had no idea at the time how her personal commitment would later become her profession.

Allen grew up in LaSalle Peru and graduated from Illinois State University with a double major in Business Management and Economics. Early in her career, she capitalized on her financial management skills with a job working at Chase Bank (then Marine Bank) in Springfield. She progressed from retail lending to portfolio manager in the investment department and then to managing the private banking department. During this time, she was asked to join the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters. Allen was deeply impacted by the children the agency served, and become passionately engaged in supporting the agency’s mission. Over the next five years, she continued to volunteer and also serve on the BBBS Board of Directors as Treasurer and Vice President.

Allen’s focus shifted when she suffered an injury that aggravated a pre-existing spinal condition. The injury impaired her physical abilities. “For three years, I was unable to work. My work had been my life…When you have a physical injury or illness, it causes you to re-evaluate what you want to be doing. When I was finally able to work again, I knew that I wanted to do something meaningful with my time.” Allen secured a full-time job at Big Brothers Big Sisters, where she served for three years. She later moved on to a fundraising position with United Cerebral Palsy.

When the opportunity at Boys and Girls Club presented itself, Allen sensed it would be a good match: a place where she could use her experience in business management and fundraising as well as her passion for working with children. “It was a perfect fit that combined the great satisfaction of having a commitment to kids with the planning and management aspect.” Boys and Girls Clubs provide a safe place for children to learn and to grow. Its programs are designed to promote the positive development of young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances. Allen says one of the most important things the Clubs do is break through the isolation some children feel and provide them with a sense of belonging, safety and community, in addition to building important academic and life skills.

Allen supervises Clubs in a five-county area from her office inside the Central Unit at 300 South 15th Street, which is not only the administrative office, but also one of the largest B&GC facilities in Central Illinois at 16,000 square feet. A second location called the ABC facility operates at South 14th Street, and there are also 9 school-based sites in Springfield. Approximately 700 Springfield children attend a school-based Boys and Girls Club program every day, and together with the Central and ABC units, over 1,000 Springfield children are engaged in Boys and Girls Club activities on any given day.

“Other agencies and community representatives say that Clubs are a great venue to reach the kids who most need their help, so we play host to health fairs and partner with various agencies in educational activities,” Allen says. The Springfield Police Department is one of those special partners. Through its PAL program (Police Athletic/Activities League), the SPD matches officers with youth at Boys and Girls Club centers. They share in fun activities, and build trusting relationships. Through these one-on-one activities, children develop a positive impression of police officers and the work they do.

Allen says she is most proud of B&GC’s expansion in adding scholastic, technology-based and life skills educational components to their historically strong recreational programs. “Research shows that if those hours after school are used productively, it has a tremendous value. If we’re not using those hours, we’ve missed an incredible opportunity for skill building and social skill development,” she explains.

Children age six and up are welcome, and their families pay only a $10 per year fee ($5 per summer and $5 per school year) for access to everything the Club has to offer. “I firmly believe that every child can benefit from positive youth development activities and support,” Allen says.

In addition to the professional staff, volunteers and members of community organizations are mentors, coaches, tutors, and teachers for special programs. Young people are able to attend classes taught by experts in a variety of fields, and new opportunities arise all the time. Some of the activities that Boys and Girls Club members have participated in include ballet recitals, academic contests, talent shows, poetry slams, and football games.

“What makes the job so rewarding and satisfying on a daily basis is that every day there are new situations, needs and opportunities to serve kids better. There is no one-size-fits-all way to lead a child to success. Every child comes with their own set of challenges, interests and abilities, and it’s our job to recognize and address those.”

Allen is continually surprised by the number of people she meets who tell her Boys and Girls Clubs has had a positive impact on their lives. Just a few “alumni” include Assistant Police Chief Bobby Williams, Kevin Gamble and Andre Igoudala. “So many people have been changed because of the time they spent here,” Allen says.

Now, after nine years as Director, life feels nicely balanced for Allen. She has a career that is both personally satisfying and professionally challenging. With her health restored, she is back to activities she loves such as yoga, sailing with her husband Lee and son Harris and taking long-distance bike rides. “You wouldn’t think going on a 300 to 500-mile bike trip would be relaxing,” she admits, “but when you can’t think about anything but how badly your legs hurt, it really frees your mind. You don’t think about anything but getting over the next hill.” For thousands of children, getting over the next hill has become a lot easier thanks to the skills, support, care, concern and fellowship they receive at their local Boys and Girls Club.

 

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