4 We Are Venice
Introducing Katy Tucker
BGCV’ s New Board President
How did you first get involved at the Club? My husband Shaun and I moved to Venice almost a decade ago. We immediately fell in love with the heart, creative spirit and true diversity of our neighborhood. We also became aware of its dangers and challenges, which were noticeably exacerbated by the pace of changes going on. We grew concerned as we watched teens from Venice High School congregate in our alleyway to“ hang out” after school. I knew, as I suspect they did on some level, that there were healthier and more productive things they could be doing after school, but at the time I found it was easier to complain than to do something about it. At the same time, we wanted to find a way to get involved in our community, and, in particular, to help kids who had less and to promote education, create opportunity for them and to build community along the way.
About 4 years ago, I learned that two people working with my husband were Board members of the Boys & Girls Club, one serving the national organization, and another, the local club in Venice, which was only a few blocks from our house. The latter invited us to take a tour of the main Venice facility, and we took her up on the offer. After seeing the Club in action, we were inspired. We knew getting involved offered the best chance to help serve and to potentially redirect the teens in our neighborhood by participating in creating a safe place for youth to congregate, to be built up and empowered to break out of the ugly cycles many of them are in, or to avoid them altogether.
What do you love most about the Club? It may sound cliché, but sincerely, I just adore the kids. Every single time I get the opportunity to interface with them, be it our 1st graders or our teens, I walk away invigorated. Every time I have the chance to learn their story, I get a chance to truly understand who we are serving. Being raised by a single parent myself, I would have loved to have had the opportunity to hang out in a clubhouse like this after school. That our kids can easily take an art class, get involved in one of our character building groups, shoot hoops in the gym, obtain SAT tutoring, or go out and learn to sail it is simply incredible. I also love that we( anyone who is reading this) get to participate in something that is so near and dear to me: WE get to have a hand in helping nurture the next generation of our nation’ s leaders. To teach empathy, compassion, and civic duty to our kids is at the heart of what we do every day with every child we touch.
As the new President, what are some of your goals and strategies for the new fiscal year? From our gifted CEO, to our nurturing and talented staff, and our dedicated Board of Directors, we are blessed to have the important pieces in place and thriving. The truth is that the face of Venice is changing rapidly, and we have a massive opportunity to share our mission with the community of new businesses and people moving in. The key word we constantly talk about is“ connection.” How can we connect our community to the work we are doing? Our generous and talented Board is a critical piece of this strategy. We are working to activate the Board in new and different ways so we can leverage their talents, connections and resources to support the Club’ s growth. Another piece is how we communicate with and interact with our donors. Our donors, corporate and individuals, are the lifeblood of the Club. I strongly believe that through exciting cultivation activities we can inspire new donors and reinvigorate existing donors to continue their generosity. These strategies are all intended to feed into the end goal of increasing our budget so we can serve more children, be there for more parents, and empower our teens to break the cycle: graduate and transition into the workforce with confidence.
If you were to envision the Club in 10 years, what would it look like? Our Board Chair Emeritus, Michael Moskowitz always says,“ We are the best kept secret in Venice.” I couldn’ t agree with him more, but do hope that in 10 years we are no longer a secret, but rather a shining beacon of light in our community that everyone knows about. I envision tripling our operating budget so we can serve more kids in our community by building infrastructure that would enable more school site locations, more staff and more programming. In this equation, more is much MORE; it is a force multiplier. If we can provide resources to more children, it will have an enormous effect on our community, helping to break the cycle of poverty and violence through empowerment, education and hope.
What is your favorite thing about Venice? To me, living in Venice is just perfection. At the intersection of natural beauty, gritty urban living and creativity on steroids is where you find our amazing town. I revel in this crazy mess. On any given Saturday you will likely find me, my husband and our two little girls( 1 and 4) on our bikes headed to the beach and then later over to the Venice canals for a canoe ride and duck hunt.
4 We Are Venice