Who will run Ricketts Center?
Borough Council mulls competing offers
POTTSTOWN >> Borough council finds itself in the unusual position of having two choices in who runs the Ricketts Community Center.
For the past 10 years, the center has been run by the Olivet Boys and Girls Club, which is based in Reading.
The club has again applied to continue running the center.
But a Pottstown-based organization is making the argument that it is the better choice, and will return the center to its original mission.
That group is called the STRIVE Initiative, with the acronym standing for Strengthen
ing Tomorrow Requires Initiative and Vision Everyday.
Both bidders are tax-exempt nonprofit groups, although Olivet has a 120year history and STRIVE was formed in 2014.
Both boasted a long list of community partners, some of which they share.
And both bidders made presentations before borough council on May 13 and each was asked to leave the room while the other presented.
But before they did, Jonathan Corson, who is the president of the Pottstown chapter of the NAACP, stressed that he was speaking as a private citizen, pleaded for unity.
“The Ricketts Center saved my life,” Corson said, “and I am not taking sides. I’m just asking everyone to come together and make this a community of opportunity.”
Olivet Proposal
Gary Redner, president of the Olivet board of directors, acknowledged that the organization has suffered from a leadership vacuum, noting there has been a high turnover of chief executive officers.
The most recent one only lasted 18 months.
“We got it wrong,” Redner said of the board.
Interim CEO Angel Helm also acknowledged that Olivet had “a rough start” when it took over operations at the Ricketts Center.
“The first couple of years, there was a lot of turnover in staff, but I’m very proud of the staff we have there now,” said Helm, who has since been replaced as interim CEO by Mike Mizak.
Under Olivet, the club serves children ages 6 to 18, is open from 2:30 to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, and has 188 members, with an average daily attendance of 45 children, according to its presentation to council.
The club opens early on holidays and early dismissal days from school and has piloted Saturday hours, for which funding has not yet been secured.
Currently, 26 programs from computer programming, to Junior Chef to karate are offered at the center.
Olivet also operates an eight-week summer camp for kids 6 to 14, which includes spending one afternoon a week at North End Pool, as well as being bused for a full day at Olivet’s Blue Mountain Camp outside Hamburg.
According to its proposal, Olivet has spent nearly $12,000 on improvements to the building, which is owned by the borough, over its 10-year tenancy.
Olivet has proposed an annual budget of $60,537 for 2019 at the Ricketts Center, which includes $30,000 from the borough, and which increases to $123,169 when the administrative overhead of all Olivet clubs is factored in.
A poll taken of Olivet members at Ricketts showed 100 percent felt “a sense of belonging; 94 percent avoid risky behaviors like alcohol and smoking; 94 percent intend to pursue post-secondary education and 96 percent report having a positive experience at the club.
Local Realtor and former Pottstown Police Officer Matt Green said he serves on the Ricketts Center advisory committee and that “the money raised in Pottstown stays in Pottstown.”
He said communication with the borough has improved and he hopes Olivet
continues to run the center.
STRIVE Proposal
STRIVE’s approach to the operation of the Ricketts Center is centered around what the community needs, and the center’s original mission, said Alex Fiz.
He noted that the survey taken at a series of community meetings in April highlighted “community disconnection” as the top concern in Pottstown.
They were held in the wake of concerns about
student behavior inside and outside Pottstown Middle School, some of which escalated to shots being fired into the home of one of the students.
Those same surveys showed top concerns also include “creating protective community environments;” and “connecting youth and caring adults to community activities,” said David Charles, a Pottstown High School alum who cofounded STRIVE with Anthony Lyon.
Charles noted that when The Hill School donated the land for the Ricketts Center, it carried a mandate: “To serve as a center for educational, recreational, and spiritual development, that shall not discriminate based on race, sex, or religion, for Pottstown residents of all ages.”
The fact that adults from the community are not allowed to co-mingle with children under the Boys and Girls Club rules, makes it harder for Olivet to fulfill that mandate, he said.
The borough’s own contract said the “primary goal for the center is to assist youth and families in improving the quality of life by providing opportunities that address health, education, recreation, spiritual and social need of Pottstown residents.”
Whereas the Olivet mission specifically focuses on youth, Charles said STRIVE’s mission — “We assist Pottstown residents in improving their quality of life by providing programming that focuses on the health, education, recreation, spiritual, cultural and familial needs of Pottstown residents” — more closely matches both the Hill School mandate and the borough’s own contract language, he said.
The STRIVE proposal calls for Ricketts Center to be open seven days a week, which will make it more attractive for “multi-generational programming,” and a more “active hub for the community.”
“When you bring in the kids, the parents come, as a family,” said Charles.
It’s budget calls for $325,000 for staffing alone.
Funding sources STRIVE’s presentation identified include the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation; the 21st Century program, funded by state grants and operated by the Pottstown School District; private donors; a $45,000 contribution from the borough and other government grants.
The 27 programs outlined range from tutoring and homework, to legal services, to health programs to karate.
The Ricketts contract does not expire for several months, so borough council has time to consider the two proposals.