Dittmer Accepts New Challenge in Eudora; Commits to Seamless Transition of Leadership
LAWRENCE, Kan. – For the first time in more than two decades, the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence will soon operate without Monica Dittmer. Dittmer announced Thursday evening that the time has come for her next challenge at the Eudora Schools Foundation.
She will help create a seamless transition plan to ensure BGCLK remains steadfast in its commitment to the youth of Lawrence. Dittmer has agreed to stay on in a part-time capacity to help support the Club during this period of adjustment. This will allow the Board of Directors to focus on finding the right fit for the next CEO.
Dittmer accepted the CEO position in 2020, but has been with The Movement since 2002. In her longtime career in youth development, Dittmer worked in nearly every job duty at the Boys & Girls Club. While she looks forward to beginning a new chapter in Eudora, Dittmer was clear that her number one goal is to focus her time and talent on her favorite job – raising her children.
“I’ve grown up at the Boys & Girls Club, quite literally,” Dittmer said. “I was still a baby myself when I started as a group leader who thought it would be fun to hang out with kids while I was a college student. It has been an honor to watch kids grow up in this community for more than 20 years. The only thing that could take me away from this place are my four favorite kids in the community – they all call me ‘Mom’. The Club is a part of me, and I will always be sitting in the first row, cheering them on. I’m grateful for every bit of it.”
Her time at the helm certainly did not come without challenges, highlighted by a global pandemic. Dittmer was named CEO just weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic began terrorizing the state. When Kansas Governor Laura Kelly announced that all schools would be closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year, including all Boys & Girls Club sites, Dittmer and her team immediately jumped into response mode.
The #ApartTogether virtual programs launched just days before she accepted the position – and the Meals To Go operation launched just days after. For the next six months, Dittmer and her dedicated team welcomed Club kids for in-person programming while Lawrence Public Schools remained closed.
Since announcing her decision to the staff and the Board of Directors, Dittmer has felt an outpouring of support and well-wishes. While the goodbyes will be bittersweet, it also gives Dittmer time to reflect on the wide range of accomplishments that have happened during her tenure. Before taking on the Interim CEO and Executive Director roles, Dittmer was in her longest-term position as the Club’s Director of Operations. It was she who paved the way to open a Boys & Girls Club location in all 14 (at the time) of the USD 497 elementary schools. Her leadership helped BGCLK’s average daily attendance soar up to 1,500 kids per day.
Inevitably, COVID-19 threw a dreadful wrench into everyone’s daily mode of operations. While the Coronavirus caused massive drops in attendance, the Club’s commitment to helping youth navigate the return to “normal” has remained steady. BGCLK has now returned to its pre-pandemic attendance numbers.
Dittmer was also instrumental in leading the organization into a vitally important deep-dive of its cultural practices by partnering the Club with Sophic Solutions, a change management and consulting firm that specializes in operationalizing equity. These equity practices and policies she put in place will help guide the Club for years to come.
The Lawrence Club’s Board of Directors will establish a search committee to find the next CEO. Together, they are focused on finding the best fit, not the first fit.