Ask an Advisor Answers

Question: We have an issue here in Roswell, New Mexico. The Boys and Girl's Club is in danger of shutting down due to money mismagement; and my Human Services class is trying to come up with ideas to try to help them. I was hopeing that maybe you could give me some suggestions.
Answer: Thank you for writing to us at Ask an Advisor. We appreciate your question and how important the Boys and Girls Club is to your community. As an outsider to the organization, it can be difficult to address how the organization has acted in the past. Without knowing much about what led to the consideration of closing down, let me suggest a few things you might do and resources on the CTB site. 1) You might mobilize resources in your community that care about the mission of the Boys and Girls Club. Such action could be aimed at (a)raising awareness about the situation, (b)identifying allies and resources for helping the club, and (c) bringing people to together for action. The "Do the Work" tab on the CTB website has several chapters that are relevant: 1-Creating and Maintaining Coalitions, 3-Analyzing Problems and Goals, 5-Developing Strategic Action Plans, 6-Building Leadership While this work may take some time to accomplish your goals of sustaining the B&G Club, it could bring together stakeholders that will be committed to the organization for the long term and support long term success. 2) If there are specific questions about management, Chapters 15 - Improving Organizational Management and 16 - Sustaining the Work or Initiative could be helpful. 3) For your class, it may be helpful to use the "Solve a Problem" section of the CTB website. These offer common scenarios community organizations face and suggested links for info. This will help refine your questions and your plans for action. We hope some of these ideas may be helpful to you. Thank you again for writing, and all best wishes for success with your class and helping the Boys and Girls Club.
Question Date: Thu, 04/30/2009