Richard Webb: No matter if you have a dad and a mom, no matter if you're rich, wealthy, no matter if you're on poverty, whatever that looks like, right? Everyone needs somebody to be able to support them. And so we talk about the nature of just relationships. That's the power. You sow seeds that are not necessarily watered by the same person, but they may be watered by the next one, and then harvested down the road to be what they are today.

Christina Kahler: Welcome back to The Vault by FNBO, where we unlock stories that matter. I'm your host, Christina Kahler, and today we're talking about the power of community, relationships and investing in the next generation. Our guest knows that story from both sides. He grew up attending the Boys and Girls Club and now leads the organization that helped shape him. Richard Webb is the President and CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of the Midlands. Richard, welcome to The Vault. Thanks so much for joining us.

Richard Webb: Well, thank you for having me on The Vault. You know, I'm the President and CEO, but I like the title of just being the biggest kid within the Boys and Girls Club of the Midlands. How about that?

Christina Kahler: I absolutely love it. You say you're the biggest kid, but truly, I think we all see you as such an incredible and inspirational leader. So, thanks for joining us here today.

Richard Webb: Well, I appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

Christina Kahler: So, to get started, tell us a little bit about the clubs. For people who may not know, what do the clubs do for young people?

Richard Webb: Yeah, well, I think it's way more than just an after-school program. When you think about the footprint that the Boys and Girls Club of the Midlands just has here locally, not nationally, because that's a large footprint. But here locally, we have 12 clubs. We see almost 1,700 kids per day. Right?

Christina Kahler: Wow.

Richard Webb: And so outside of just providing meals and outside of providing a safe space, we have four really pillar areas that we support our kids through. So, one of them being health and wellness. And so you move around like activity, sports, and things of that nature. We have our life and workforce readiness. And that's where you look at like the career exploration. You look at opportunities for scholarships and things of that nature. We have our academic success. We say we never try to own what academics looks like, but we try to make sure we're able to supplement the school districts because we're in four school districts. So lesson in being in that many. And then, of course, good character and leadership. And in that space, in that pillar, you'll have more things like our Smart Girls or our Passport to Manhood, just teaching these young kids from the age of five through right now, 26, 27, how to be respectful, responsible young adults. And it just showcase, you know, how building relationships with these kids can really unlock the ceiling of what they can be.

Christina Kahler: Really incredible programming. So, tell us about with those programs, you're operating after school hours. And what's so important about those hours for kids?

Richard Webb: Well, being young, my dad used to always say a quote and he said, you know, you're either going to do something constructive or you're going to be destructive. Right. And when you think about kids being in school the entire day, right after school, most of the time, whether they're in the double parent household or a single parent household, most of the time their parents or their support systems are at work. Right? So instead of going to a potential empty house, going to a space where they can have a meal, right? Going to a space where they can receive some homework help if they need that, going to some and more relatively right now, going to a space where they can have some social interactions. Right. Because, of course, we know what's happened the last five or six years. And what does it look like to develop those social habits, you know, those social interactions with everybody else? We know there's a lot of data that shows from the hours from three o'clock until eight o'clock is when there's the most opportunity for kids to find themselves doing something they're not supposed to be doing. Right. And I think when we talk about the age that we're living in, the access that these kids have to things that they probably should not have access to is relatively available. And so being able to provide that support from right after school where we do transportation or we have some kids who get dropped off and some kids that walk, ride their bike, whatever the case may be, to come to the club is very essential for our community. And like I said, there's no other after school program outside of the schools that are seeing seventeen hundred kids per day.

Christina Kahler: Yes, it really is incredible how much you're doing and how many kids you're serving. Thinking about the clubs, I think what's really special about your journey is that you attended the club as a young person.

Richard Webb: Yes.

Christina Kahler: So, can you tell us a little bit about your experience attending the club?

Richard Webb: Well, as you know, Christina, I'm always going to be very transparent. Right. And so as a young man, of course, I wanted to do everything else but attend the club or attend anything, you know. But ultimately, my engagement in the club came through a program that I used to participate in in the third grade called Pacesetter's Academy.

Christina Kahler: OK.

Richard Webb: And so that's whenever we hosted it at what's now called the Blackburn Building. That's where the club was at. And so, we would go to Pacesetter's Academy, we would get done at Pacesetter's Academy and then I would be able to stay at the club so my mom could be working. Yeah. And so then I would be at the club, play basketball underneath Mr. Dave Felici back then and a lot of other staff members that have a lot of tenure. Some of them are actually still at the clubs working because they dedicated their life to their kids and relationships because it's so important. And so just going to the club a lot as a young man. And then in middle school, I started getting into other programs such as like the African-American History Challenge brought on by the 100 Black Men, basketball and sports and things of that nature. So then around my sophomore year, I started getting heavily back involved inside of the clubs because we had like the teen centers and it was just like we used to throw these little parties and things of that nature for teens. But then we used to have the all-star basketball team. And so, I was a part of that and, you know, leagues and things of that nature. And so, growing up in the club, it was just something that was another resource that now being a more seasoned man, I would say, now I can look back and say, man, how much that actually played a pivotal role in my childhood because ultimately goes back to what we talked about a little earlier in this segment is those hours after school. Those are some critical hours and it can be the difference between kids having something positive to do and the kids' minds are just roaming. In today's society, it's probably not going to roam to something right.

Christina Kahler: Right. So true. So then returning to the clubs, what pulled you back as the leader?

Richard Webb: So, I will tell you, originally it was my late wife. I worked for Caesars Entertainment for a number of years, loved working there. And in their company culture, they wanted you to be engaged in like board and service and things of that nature. So that's what got me involved with the 100 Black Men. And I was there for five years being president and CEO. And I've always looked at the Boys and Girls Club as like the upper echelon, the top of the line. Right. When it comes to nonprofits after school serving kids. Right. And I never thought I would get an opportunity. But my predecessor, Ivan Gilreath, was retiring and he was the fifth CEO in 60 years. Right. And, you know, when this job posting got available, the first thing I did, I said, hey, let me call Ivan. I know him. I said, what does this look like? And to be very transparent, I didn't think I had a chance. I mean, at that point I was 32 years old and I'm like, there's no way I'm, you know, they've only been five in 60 years. I said they're not going to take a chance on a 32-year-old kid. I don't care how ambitious he is. And so, I ended up talking to him and I put my name in the hat thinking it's a long shot during COVID, March. Right. And through seven interviews, nine months, 18 and a half hours, I got the job. And, you know, originally once he goes back to my prayer closet, my wife says, you were a big kid at heart. And now I have an opportunity. And every day I wake up, I get to be a big kid. And it doesn't mean challenges don't arise because nonprofit leadership is hard. You've got to raise a lot of money.

Christina Kahler: Not for the faint of heart.

Richard Webb: Yes. Not for the faint of heart. And then, you know, HR and just everything else that comes along with, you know, 275 staff. But every day I get to wake up and I get to see an opportunity for kids to smile. And then there's a transition between understanding, like not coming in and trying to own everything as a leader, but then trying to duplicate processes and systems. Right. So, you can have the continuation of quality that you're looking for. And so even though I don't get to sit in my clubs every single day and see the kids, I understand how me as a leader in my leadership team, the things that we do are able to impact so many more lives. And that's meaningful to me.

Christina Kahler: I mean, the thought that you were at the clubs and now leading the clubs, what a story and something for them to aspire to as well. So, tell us what a typical day looks like at the club.

Richard Webb: Yeah. Well, when you're serving, you know, highs of 1,750 kids a day, it looks a little different for every kid. Right. But ultimately, when the kids come, we try to give them a little time to kind of get some of their wiggles out. Of course, if you've been in school the whole day, kind of get in some healthy lifestyles going on. So, whether that's basketball in the gym, whether it's a good old game of volleyball or, you know, dodgeball, things of that nature. And then specifically, they'll go into their different programming. And so, depending on what pillar we're looking at working that day, it may be, you know, going into Passport to Manhood and Smart Girls, where we're dividing the, you know, the genders up and basically saying, hey, this is what it would look like to be a young man. This is what it's like to be a young lady. What does this look like for you? And in some component, if we're doing academic success, some of our younger kids may come around four o'clock and then they'll do the meals, get some jitters out, and then they'll go into like Lalilo, which is a study-based reading program that supports them and works cohesively with the school districts to raise that reading level. And for some of our older kids, we do college and career programming, where some of that looks like going to different organizations and doing some shadowing. Some of those are hands-on. Some of those things are updating what we call the platform of Civil Corps, and that's where they're getting everything together for their scholarships, right, for their Youth of the Year programming. I mean, all of these things to really help them understand what the next step may look like for them. Because what we believe in our leadership team and in our board for the Boys and Girls Club is, is it's not our right to tell them what they're going to do. What it's our job is, is to provide the resources to be able to support them in identifying what they want to do. And then once they identify, then it's back on us to be able to provide them the support and the resources to be able to follow through with that. And so, whether that's a trade, whether that's, you know, a four-year school, whether we, you know, in our scholarship program, we've actually graduated three doctoral students in the last couple years. And so, we support them all the way through.

Christina Kahler: Wow. That's wonderful. We've talked about the importance of relationships and at the clubs, all of the leaders who are helping kids and believing in them. Can you tell us a little bit about how having adults in your life who believe in you can be so important and change the trajectory of a child's life?

Richard Webb: Yeah, well, I think that's very meaningful, right? I mean, one thing I know about kids, of course, is kids can spot authenticity right away, right? So, they know what kind of energy you bring. They know if you really believe in them. They know if you don't like them. They know if you like them. They know, I mean, they know all of those things, right? It's like intuition. The kids are automatically given when it comes to adults. And so, when a kid that maybe hears things that doesn't align with where they want to go, that doesn't support them, that doesn't uplift them, actually gets to someone who actually believes in them and they understand it, right? That actually sows positive seeds into them. And so when kids see authenticity and they see that you really care about them, there's a level of respect of how they will show up. And then through that level of respect of how they will show up, now you've got an opportunity to guide the kids in the right direction, right? Because when you think about a lot of people, when they think about the club, they think about supporting like vulnerable children. And I'll say, Christina, that's never been my mindset. Yes, there are some vulnerable children in our clubs, but no matter if you have a dad and a mom, no matter if you're rich, wealthy, no matter if you're on poverty, whatever that looks like, right? Everyone needs somebody to be able to support them, to guide them. We all have different battles we face. And so ultimately, the value of the relationship and the authenticity that you have with these kids gives you the opportunity to put something in front of them that they may have never looked at. And I'll give you just a prime example, our board chair, Mr. Tim Holland, he would have never went into architecture unless he had the relationship, of course, with our Boys and Girls Club leadership back in the day. They personally got in their car and drove him down to UNL to actually look at architecture there. Then he went to Harvard, and now he's serving as our board chair and has been supported and was our first scholarship recipient. And so, we talk about the nature of just relationships. That's the power. You sow seeds that are not necessarily watered by the same person, but they may be watered by the next one and then harvested down the road to be what they are today.

Christina Kahler: Wow. Incredible stories, truly. Young people are growing up in a very different world from the one that you and I did. What do you see in today's young people that's different, and what are they better at?

Richard Webb: Yeah. Well, I'll just name better at first, right? I mean, I think the young people's resiliency is just through the charts right now, right? I mean, you think about as a young kid that's just in either elementary school, middle school, or high school, even let's just say even college, what they've gone through in the last six, seven years has really showcased like how can you go through a pandemic, right? And still understand some of the social skills that you have to learn. So, you think about if you were at kindergarten, right? Or if you're in pre-K, you came back in the second or third grade. Like think about those social skills you learned as far as being able to share and things of that nature that you didn't get a chance to at that point, right? Here's all the after impacts, after effects of those things that went on, right? So, you talk about what's better is the resiliency. But I think something that they're dealing with right now, and you see it a lot more, of course, is, you know, the access that they have to things. It makes them want to be almost more of a microwave generation where I want it right away. And then the challenge is, is then you have a lot of anxiety that comes in. You have a lot of mental health issues that come in, of course, because now they're seeing their friends and they see stuff online that they believe, oh, all you got to do is make one TikTok and it goes viral and then I turn into a millionaire, right? And so even though they have the resiliency to keep pushing forward, sometimes they may not have the direction and sometimes they may not think that they need the direction, right? And so, I think there's a lot of stressors that come aboard because they have access to anything that they want right away. And even when I say access, they see things that they probably shouldn't see at a young age. And so, they have to have resiliency to literally just wake up every day. And so, what it looks like to support the kids now is a lot different. And then you don't want to go into necessarily the cost, right? The cost to support these kids, because sometimes you have to go a little bit outside of your mission area to be able to support kind of like the pyramid of success, right? Like you got to get hunger done first. You got to get housing done first before you can even teach them how to read, right? And so, a lot of the nonprofit organizations that support the youth and the people in our community are having to kind of be stretched even more and sometimes with less resources.

Christina Kahler: Yeah. Are there any stories or moments that hit you with this is exactly why we do this?

Richard Webb: Yeah, well, I think there's a lot of them, right? I think of, you know, kids that have been through a program that, you know, through our Youth of the Year program and have shared their sentimental stories and what keeps them pushing, right? Whether it's losing a parent and that being the motivation task to keep on going forward and to try to accomplish great things with the help of the clubs. Or that's even something to where one of our young men grew up actually in the Carter Lake trailer park, right? And never thought about potentially going somewhere to college, right? And he was the first kid to go out to college, and he got a full ride to Columbia.

Christina Kahler: Wow.

Richard Webb: Right?

Christina Kahler: Yeah.

Richard Webb: So, here's a no other person in his family had been to college.

Christina Kahler: Yeah.

Richard Webb: And he's going from Iowa to Columbia, right? I mean, we're talking about an Ivy League school kicking butt and just graduated actually.

Christina Kahler: So great.

Richard Webb: Doing awesome. And we have a second one there now also.

Christina Kahler: Fantastic.

Richard Webb: Yeah. We've got him going there now too. And so just the stories of just the resiliency, as I stated earlier, and then just the ability to like really raise the ceiling and say, you know what, whatever you choose, whatever you're willing to work towards, we're going to help.

Christina Kahler: Love it.

Richard Webb: And so, you know, it's all about the kids' stories.

Christina Kahler: Yeah.

Richard Webb: Right? Because what I always say is, is your story is not our story to tell. Your story is for us to be able to elevate it at whatever voice level that you want it to be told. Because a lot of people don't realize when kids are able to showcase their story and how they've overcome certain things, it gives them a fulfilling inside that says, I did it. But then outside of that, Christina, it gives the other 1,749 kids an opportunity to say, well, if Richard did it, I can do it.

Christina Kahler: I can do that too.

Richard Webb: So, telling the stories in the right way are key.

Christina Kahler: Tell us, is there something that you've learned from the young people you work with? It's probably every day, but is there something that stands out in particular?

Richard Webb: Yeah. I mean, I think probably the biggest thing that I learned from kids all the time is how sometimes we feel as adults, the most complex issues are so simple. And sometimes all it is about is just listening to the people who are directly impacted by it. Right. And we want to make it seem like you got to do 27 different things to get to one solution. And in the eyes of a kid, it's the simpler you keep it, the better it is to understand, the better it is to navigate through it. And so, I would say if there's anything, you know, it is keeping it simple, understand what you're trying to do, what you're trying to impact, and put it to a level of a third grader being able to understand it.

Christina Kahler: So, when you think about what you've learned from the kids and then your leadership philosophy in general, how do you approach your leadership at the clubs?

Richard Webb: Well, I think a big thing I think in my head, and I learned this one really from Johnny Rogers when he was my board chair for the 100 Black Men. He always says, if you can do something alone, it just is not big enough. And so I've taken that into my leadership style, try to get as much information I can before I make a decision, understanding that some decisions are timely. And so you may have to make a decision. And if you find out later the information wasn't the best information or more information comes out, you got to own that process as a leader. But then the other aspect of that in a leadership style is you have to give your leaders the autonomy to lead, right? You bring them onto a team to showcase what they know, their skills, their ability, and their knowledge. And so you have to make sure you get out the way sometimes as a leader and allow them to lead where sometimes you're weak at and understand that this is what takes a team to make greatness happen.

Christina Kahler: All of the support for Boys and Girls Clubs is very evident here. And it's really important that you have that community support. Can you tell us why?

Richard Webb: Well, of course, there's no way we can do the work that we do without community support, not only financially. I mean, for this year, our budget is $12.2 million, right? So, we got to raise that much money just to even keep the doors open and to provide the resources to our kids that we do. But even outside of the financial aspect, you know, we rely heavily on some partners as I alluded to earlier. And so we want to be able to have some therapy for some kids. We use community partners, right? And you have to have a good brand to be able to make sure who you're referring these kids over to, they're going to be taken care of. Because when they have the relationship with you, when the support systems have the relationship with you, they trust you to be able to guide them in the right direction. And so we want to make sure our community believes in what we do. And then of course, corporations like FNBO that continuously has supported Boys and Girls Club. I mean, all of those things truly matter for us to be able to deliver on our mission and to be able to support that next generation. Because at the end of the day, Christina, you know, the kids that we're supporting will one day be in the workforce. We want to prepare them for what it looks like, not only for the culture of the workforce, but also for accountability in the workforce. Then also an ability to understand you're going to get what you put in it and we're going to help you get there.

Christina Kahler: Yeah. So important for their futures and for the future of our city.

Richard Webb: Yes.

Christina Kahler: Yes. And all of our organizations. So, if people listening want to get involved and help out, how can they get involved with Boys and Girls Clubs of the Midlands?

Richard Webb: Yeah, well, there's a plethora of different ways that people can get involved with the Boys and Girls Club. A lot of people think writing a check. Right. And I will never tell you that writing a check is not the right one. But outside of that, connections are key. Right. Especially in our community that we live in. Relationships matter. Right. And when you think about mentors, it's not personal mentors, but people can advocate on your behalf. And so advocates in the community to really showcase all of the different resources that the Boys and Girls Club has or the community members for the club members on a daily basis. That's an avenue forward. And then also just coming in volunteering. Now, we'll tell you, of course, safety is our number one priority. And so, of course, we do have background checks and things of that nature that we do for all of our consistent volunteers. But just an opportunity to kind of actually see how the cake is baked every single day inside of our clubs. Or, you know, there's an opportunity to come and work for the clubs and actually be the person that actually makes the magic happen inside of the clubs. That's another way people can be involved.

Christina Kahler: So, holidays are coming up and we're thinking about all the different ways that we might support. Are there specific things that you might be thinking about as an organization that you might need around the holiday time?

Richard Webb: Yeah, well, there's a couple of things. One, we always do an end of the year campaign organization our size. And so we do have on the Nebraska side of $50,000 dollar for dollar match.

Christina Kahler: Wonderful.

Richard Webb: Yes. And then we do have a $25,000 match dollar for dollar on the Iowa side.

Christina Kahler: Great.

Richard Webb: A couple other things is Thanksgiving dinners are coming up. Every one of our clubs does a Thanksgiving dinner, not only for the kids, but we do invite families also.

Christina Kahler: That's great.

Richard Webb: And so opportunities to come and serve and volunteer, hand them out at that time has always been key. And then, of course, on our Iowa side, our Iowa Board of Trustees always does adopt families and we wrap the gifts and we provide those gifts to a couple of families on our Iowa side. And so I think there's a couple of different ways that you can give or support the organization as we go into these holidays.

Christina Kahler: Lots of great ways to plug in. So go to your website to find those opportunities. Remind us what it is.

Richard Webb: So BGCOmaha.org. That's BGCOmaha.org.

Christina Kahler: Okay. As we wrap up, I'm curious if you could say something to young Richard way back in the day, what would you say? And then also for a child walking into the clubs for the first time today, what would you want them to be able to say about their life someday?

Richard Webb: Yeah. Well, I think for young Richard, now that I'm 38 years old, I would say everything that you've gone through in life, there's a reason behind it. And sometimes that reason is bigger than you. And in some spaces you can't change it, even if you want to. I've been through a lot of things, as you know, in my life. I can't go back and change it. But it's made me to be the man that I am today. For kids walking into our clubs on a daily basis, what I would want them to understand and know is life is hard. Life is very hard. But ultimately, there are a lot of people who care about them, want them to succeed, and especially in the community that we have here, whether it's corporations, whether it's philanthropy, whether it's just community leaders, there are a lot of people that want them to succeed. And so in the time that you're walking in, the things that you're going to have to go through, understand that you're not alone. And it may still be hard for you to walk through, but understand that you do have the resources and support and all of the different organizations here that want you to succeed. And so every day is worth living. Every day is worth taking the next step and understanding that there's always a light at the end of the tunnel, and we'll get there together.

Christina Kahler: Amazing. You have such an incredible story and such a passion for what you do, and you're truly such a gift to our community. So, thank you. Thank you for being with us today. Thank you for sharing your story and your gifts. We appreciate you. And to everyone, thank you for joining us on The Vault. We'll see you next time.