Chico

Boys & Girls Clubs of North Valley, Human Resources Director

CalSAC Trainer | since 2008  

Board member    

Donor

"I first connected with CalSAC when a supervisor recommended I attend a Training of Trainers (TOT). I absolutely loved the TOT experience! I had a passion for staff development, team-building, and facilitated training, and I was inspired by the concepts, tools, resources, and network CalSAC made available. Being in such an experiential, hands-on environment with such diverse people from all ages, experiences, and walks of life really gave me a foundation to move forward with and build upon so I could become a more professional trainer and youth-development professional — and a better person.”

Scott says he and his ToT colleagues feel a deep connection from their shared experience. He says, "I continue to see some of the people I met through the ToT, in conferences and so on, but it's one of those things where if you run into somebody who did ToT, it's like you saw them yesterday and you're meeting for coffee. The program creates real camaraderie."

"I continue to be involved and I continue to do more with CalSAC because, first of all, I saw the results in my organization and other organizations that took advantage of the resources, training, tools, and networking. I saw a positive change in myself, and I saw the staff members who were engaged and received CalSAC training and how that directly led to improvements in youth services. So I saw the direct impact on children. CalSAC gives a powerful platform for people in the youth-development and out-of-school-time fields to join with, communicate with, and build on — to learn, grow, and support one another. Through everything CalSAC provides, you see the impact on the workforce, on yourself, on your own organization, on your staff who do the wonderful work, and on the kids. That's what brings it full circle."

The youth-development and out-of-school-time fields experience constant change. Scott describes what this is like from the perspective of professionals in the field. "First, of course, there are constant changes with the young people we serve. We witness it through their family circumstances, whether it is struggles or successes that young people go through, and through trends and changes in our society. All of the professional tools that CalSAC offers, from training both in person and online — from professional development to leadership training to advocacy — CalSAC provides all those tools and resources at minimum cost or free to so many agencies throughout California. CalSAC has an enormous impact for one small organization.”