Sally Grimes: Bringing Equity In Access To Extracurricular Activities
What was your Vision for Impact Statement?
“As the Executive Director of Activities Beyond the Classroom (ABC), I will actively engage community partners, district stakeholders, and CPS and school leadership until every child in CPS has the opportunity to find and participate in the extracurricular activity that ignites their passion, provides a healthy identity, a sense of belonging, and teaches critical 21st century skills that children need to be successful in life.”
I was probably an anomaly in School Board School because I entered knowing I’d be moving into an Executive Director role. At ABC, we only work with Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) and I wanted to understand the board and administration’s perspective of education and extracurriculars so that I could do as good a job as possible in my new role.
You made a big career change! What led to that change?
I was working at ABC for about 3 years. I was hired as Development Director, and then moved on to Director of Advancement, and I am now the Executive Director. The former executive had been the one and only director for 17 years, and we made the transition on July 1st.
I’d previously been an Executive Director a couple of times. When I first started in nonprofits, I was focused on the outdoor industry. My first Executive Director role was with an organization called Winter Wildlands, where I focused on protecting backcountry areas from motorized vehicles. After that, I moved into an Executive Director role with an organization that was called Outdoor Industries Women's Coalition (now called Camber Outdoors). It's a professional development and networking organization for women in the outdoor industry. I did that for close to 10 years. I got into ABC and education because I had kids of my own and became a foster parent. Our kids went to CPS schools and I got really engaged with the schools. I started to become much more aware of the issues surrounding public schools and the need for advocates. I made an intentional shift and decided that I wanted my focus to be on education.
How have you used your School Board School training/ learnings in your new role?
School Board School was invaluable! I went into it thinking I would get a better understanding of how the school board operates and what it means to be a school board member, but honestly I feel like School Board School should be a mandatory primer for anybody who's working with public schools.
It provided a real understanding of funding, the board vs the administration’s roles, and why it can be so hard to move the needle. I also understand how there is so much pressure on public schools to be everything for students. So, I walked out with a much better understanding of how a school board works but even more than that, I walked out with a much more well-rounded understanding of how public education works, especially in an urban district like CPS.
What do you love about your new role? What impact are you (and/or your team) making in your new role?
Everything! It’s great! First, I just love the organization. It has such a fabulous mission and we really do some amazing work. I'm biased, of course, but I'm such a believer in extracurriculars and taking advantage of the time outside of a classroom. All of our programs are free for the participants. CPS has so many children living at or below the poverty level where money is such a barrier, and we are able to deliver these programs at no cost so that kids are able to participate. I just think about my own kids and how much they are able to thrive in their extracurricular activities. It doesn't make sense to me that there are kids in the city who wouldn't have those opportunities just because their parents can't afford it. I love all we do and I love being able to deliver programs that help develop children from a holistic point of view. I think the programs we deliver are so important and I'm just honored to be a part of it.
Is there anything else you want to highlight?
School Board School is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in being an education advocate, not just if you're interested in running for school board.
It's a good overview of how everything works in the school district and how complicated it is. I wish that people who want to have a voice would go through something like School Board School so that they would understand the complexities of it. I just think it's such a great resource and I really am appreciative to Elisa and Nickol and everybody else who was a part of making it happen.