New leadership will bring big changes to the Mahomet Area Youth Club (MAYC) in 2017. Not only has the club hired a new Executive Director and appointed a new Board President, but the club is also looking to leave their current building at 601 E Franklin St. and occupy the former New Hope Church building at 700 W. Main St.
Changes began to happen in August when Crystal Bailey was appointed to replace Matt Difanis as President. Bailey, who had been on the MAYC board for two years, said she found that being part of MAYC was very rewarding.
After MAYC ended its relationship with Marcius Moore, the club began to look for someone to fill the Executive Director role. With numerous qualified candidates, including some for Mahomet, MAYC decided to choose Mahomet resident Chad Hoffman, who held business and volunteer experience.
The former owner and CEO of Rogards, said, “I really wanted to give back on a daily basis, not just on a part-time basis where I did a lot of volunteering. When the opportunity to work in my own community of Mahomet and to interact with kids and help them grow into positive adults, that was huge.”
Hoffman hopes to bring some of his volunteer experiences, such as mentoring an at-risk youth through high school, teaching children at his church and coaching youth in athletics to his experiences with Mahomet youth.
“I’m hoping to raise awareness about the club, to continue to serve an underserved population, but also to make sure that we’re offering services to everyone in the community in terms of having kids come here and feel comfortable with the program.”
Hoffman and Bailey said the club will continue to support the MAYC-funded BLAST program that began in Mahomet-Seymour Schools in 2013. But they also hope to increase funding, offer additional programming and provide role models for students who attend MAYC.
Bailey said many Mahomet residents do not understand the divide in financial status in Mahomet.
“A lot of people look at this community and say this a very “well-off” community,” Bailey said. “However, 25% of the kids are still at-risk from an economical standpoint. The disparity between the 25% and the rest of the kids makes Mahomet different than other communities. I think that’s where we really want to focus and bring in the 25-percent include them and bring all of our programs to become more inclusive so that we can close that gap.”
“There are a lot of studies that show poverty is a known factor in terms of what happens to kids later on in life,” Hoffman said. “So if we can be one step in terms of mentors, giving kids positive role models, that’s a huge challenge. We want to make sure those kids have somewhere to be, go and to have an outlet. That gives them positive exposure.”
Bailey hopes that the purchase of the New Hope Church building will give them the space they need to offer spring and summer on-campus programming similar to BLAST programming. She said the church will nearly triple what they have at the current club campus and allow for separate education spaces for different age groups.
The purchase of New Hope is conditional upon zoning through the Village. Currently, MAYC hopes to purchase the building, renovate it and have students in programs on the new campus by summer.
With a new facility, MAYC also faces a need to raise more funds.
“We do not get state funding as an organization. It’s private donors that really help MAYC serve the community as it can,” Hoffman said.
Both Hoffman and Bailey said they are looking into ways to revamp the programs MAYC hosts as soon as spring break. While it may be on a small scale, they hope the spring break programs will be a stepping stone for what they can offer during the summer.
“We’d like to expand what we are able to offer for summer,” Bailey said. “We’re still putting that together.”
