Mapping a Path to Leadership with Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma-Marin

Santa Rosa, CA (August 26, 2024) - As a little girl, Jennifer Weiss didn’t dream of being in charge of a large nonprofit with 40 locations and 350 employees. Now, this 52-year-old CEO of Boys & Girls Club of Sonoma-Marin based in Santa Rosa has no desire to go anywhere else.

“I never intended to be a lifer. I attended business school at UC Berkeley with the intention of permanently pivoting into the corporate world, and I have had a few really good corporate experiences as detours,” Weiss said. “I have returned each time though because the opportunity to help those who have less to improve their lives now and into the future is an incredible privilege.”

Personal struggles as an adult have helped Weiss better relate to what some of the families in her nonprofit are going through.

My husband, Jason, and son Jacob and I adopted our daughter, Juliette, from foster care 10 years ago when she was 8. She had been in nine homes before ours and had a long list of those adverse childhood experiences,” Weiss said. “Then, in 2016 I was diagnosed with a scary disease and traded five ribs in order to have a large tumor removed and started to get my own sense of living through traumatic experiences. Days after we learned the tumor had returned, we lost our home in the Tubbs Fire. And then in the aftermath of that loss, we lost both my father and brother unexpectedly within a month of each other, to cancer and a car crash, respectively.”

Dealing with the stressors facing her charges, who range in age from 4 to 24, is something that has changed through the years. Partly, Weiss says, more kids have trauma in their lives, and adults are better at recognizing that.

“Historically, if we went back 15 years in time, we would spend a lot of time on the best way to help kids with homework. And we still do that, but at the same time we now spend more time working on how kids can express how they are feeling, expressing their emotions,” Weiss said.

Therapy isn’t what Boys & Girls Club of Sonoma-Marin is offering. Instead, it’s having young people verbalize in easy to understand ways how they are feeling and what kind of day they are having. This leads to better understanding and greater ability to cope.

The following Q&A between the Journal and Weiss has been edited for clarity and space.

Q: What about your business keeps you up at night?

A: The youth who most need our services have already experienced more adverse childhood experiences than most. Over 80% of our members live in low-income homes. Many have experienced neglect or abuse and may be in foster care and one-parent households. Some are also impacted by immigration issues, family members who may be involved in gangs or are incarcerated, and then the generalized stress of not having enough to make ends meet. When you add to this to the fires and pandemic, we find youth truly in crisis.

Q: How has the organization changed since it first started in 1946?

A: Boys & Girls Clubs were started in 1861 in Connecticut by four women who noticed that local young men needed a productive alternative to roaming the streets. In 1946, Boys & Girls Clubs opened in Healdsburg first as a boxing club with the same goal. The organization has evolved with the times, and now we offer programming to ensure academic success, good character, healthy lifestyles, and a life of creative expression. That said, at the end of the day it still comes down to mentoring young people and making sure that they have an environment that is completely welcoming, regardless of background and circumstance, and very supportive of the trauma and challenges our members have experienced.

Q: What do you believe are the top three priorities in the organization’s ‘Whatever it Takes 2027: A Plan for Kids’ document?

A: We aim to serve as many youth as possible in as many locations as possible, with our school time programs to meet the needs of today’s youth; enabling them to become caring, productive adults all while allowing parents to work knowing their kids are in a safe and engaging environment. Truly the vision is to end poverty in the communities we serve. If our parents are able to work now, and our youth are future ready, our community will be in good shape for the future.

Q: Why was it important to open the $17 million Roseland Community Clubhouse in Santa Rosa last summer?

A: For years, even with five locations in Roseland, we have had around 1,000 youth on a waiting list. The Roseland Community Clubhouse has allowed us to open our doors to the full list, enhancing thousands more lives.

Q: Where do things stand with the new facility in Healdsburg?

A: Our Healdsburg facility remodel is next up. This $18 million project will begin in 2025, and take about a year to complete. We are so excited about this remodel, right where it all started.

Q: Where does the money for the annual $22 million budget come from?

A: Our budget (for an organization that serves 10,000 youths a year) is mostly state funding that is available exclusively for after school and summer programs, and is supplemented by local philanthropy and a small amount of parent fees, though the vast majority of our programs are completely free to families.

Q: What concerns and goals do you have for your business and industry for the next five years?

A: Our goal is to continue to grow and improve. We have grown from three locations to over 40 in 15 years, so we have a pretty good track record. It’s also important to ensure we are continually enhancing our programming to meet changing needs and maximize impact. One area where we will grow is our range of programming for high school teens.

Q: What one government regulation would you change and why?

A: At the federal level I’m always concerned about Dreamers. So many of the young people we serve were not born in this country, but this is their home.

Q: What are the benefits and drawbacks to being located in the North Bay?

A: It’s absolutely a beautiful place to work and live. But for the families we serve it can be unbearably expensive. I hate seeing such a large percentage of people’s income go to housing.

Q: What was your first career job?

A: When I got to S.F., I knew I wanted to have a job in community service and was drawn to both the elderly and youth. I got an interview at Boys & Girls Clubs in San Francisco and the rest is history.

Q: Is this the job you wanted when you were young? If not, what were your early career aspirations?

A: I thought I would be an international business attorney because I was good at languages, love to travel, and I am pretty skilled at making my point. But I decided early on that probably wouldn’t bring out the best in me to constantly have an opponent.

This article was written and published by The Press Democrat and the North Bay Business Journal.