Published in the July magazine, In Conversation with Non Profit Leaders features a roundtable discussion among representatives from local non profit organizations. Below is an excerpt from the conversation in which Bill Sadlo of Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota & DeSoto Counties shares how his organization has embraced collaboration and partnerships.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE COMPLETELY NEW SERVICES THAT YOU’RE OFFERING, AS A RESULT OF PANDEMIC RESPONSE THAT WILL STICK?

We did forge some new things but what really happened was enhancing what we were already doing and enhancing partnerships. Philip Tavill mentioned before about the food distribution sites, we did that with Girls Inc. and Children First but it was with a standing partnership with All Faiths Food Bank. Now our partnership is strengthened by adding food pantries into our clubs so parents can come and pick up food when they pick up their children. Same thing with Sarasota County Schools. We’ve always had teachers in our clubs helping but now we’ve really been more intentional about that now with the pandemic and with the learning loss. We had six teachers over the two county area last summer, now we have 22 and six school social workers. We were shocked to see the numbers when our teachers did pre-tests and post-tests. 86% of our children in our program last summer made gains in reading and language arts. Zero slid behind, 14% stayed the same. That’s what we can do when we all come together like this.

This is an excerpt from the In Conversation with Non Profit Leaders published in the July 2021 edition of SRQ Magazine. Click here to see the full article. 

Read More From In Conversation Here