A volunteer-driven organization that tries to remove barriers to child learning in McLean County is taking a big step, hiring its first full-time, salaried executive director.
Retired District 87 Superintendent Barry Reilly said he wasn't looking for a job. The board of Promise Council of McLean County asked him to help develop a job description for the post. He got interested and withdrew from the committee so he could be considered for the job. The board hired him.
The Promise Council began in 2009. America's Promise Alliance is a national organization. Retired State Farm chair and CEO Ed Rust Jr. sat on that national board and brought the model to Bloomington-Normal, said council chair Linda Bowman.
Rust started with a few thousand dollars and loaned State Farm executives, asking them to improve the community graduation rate.
“That group of people connected with Sarah Edwards, who was principal at Pepper Ridge Elementary School. It was a failing school at the time,” said Bowman. “They came up with a plan that involved bringing more caring adults into these kids’ lives, meeting their physical needs and improving or increasing the parental involvement in education. And within a year, Pepper Ridge was no longer a failing school.”
The council became a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit in 2017 with a governing board. By 2018, there were 13 schools and Bowman said the organization decided to restructure.
“At that point, while the organization was doing a lot of good in a lot of schools, it was not a solid organization with a good foundation. It was really kind of 13 separate units,” she said.
She said the board created structure and organization. Now, there are councils in 24 schools in three districts — District 87, Unit 5, and Olympia. In the two dozen schools served, the council said there are more than 5,000 children from low-income families, and over 3,000 children who are chronically absent.
There were about 800 volunteers in Promise Council efforts in a recent 12-month period, according to an October update for school superintendents. In that time the Promise Council spent more than $116,000 providing physical needs and other support.
Bowman said the board has done a lot of marketing and fundraising. There’s $240,000 in the bank and much like 2017, it was time to reassess the structure of the council.
“We knew it could no longer be managed by volunteers. It was just too big of an organization … We needed to hire someone who could manage it so the board could get back to what it should be doing — raising money and being visionary,” said Bowman. “It was time. It was either stagnate or professionalize. And we decided we were going to, we're going to bite the bullet.”
The council in McLean County has no state or federal grants, relying on donations, networking, and volunteer shoe leather.
“We aren't bound by some of the rules and regulations that other organizations are bound by. It gives us a lot of freedom,” said Bowman, adding current resources are stretched and there are schools that want to have promise councils. She’d like to add five or six new schools in the next year.
“Needs for kids just continue to grow," said Reilly, whose annual salary will be $75,000. "Schools have taken on roles that they were never intended to take on over the last probably 15 years or so. We're looking to help fill gaps.”
Those gaps take many forms. They can involve providing donated beds, furniture, securing dental appointments, clothing, shoes, food, hygiene products like soap and toothpaste, mentoring, tutoring, and so on. Schools identify the needs and the council acts.
“This just happened within the last month," said Bowman. "This family is living in a trailer. They've had no heat. They're going to be homeless if they can't stay in the trailer. We sent out a contractor to look at it. Well, the floor was rotting underneath the old heater, and they needed to repair the flooring. They needed to, you know, bring in a new heater, and so on. We are able to do whatever they need.”
She said the council does not have guard rails. If a need fits the group mission, they can do it.
Over his decades as an educator, Reilly said he saw the needs of children grow for a variety of reasons: mental health challenges, family dynamics, economic factors that contribute to family struggles, and social media.
“Mental health needs of kids have grown over the years, and I don't see that going away. Hopefully, we can do our part to help lessen that. This is a way that we can help fill the gaps that may exist,” said Reilly, who retired from District 87 in July 2022.
He acknowledged there are many good agencies in the community that address the needs of children and families. Bowman said she expects Reilly will spend more than half his time raising money and other resources for the council, while maintaining and growing the volunteer networks, and coordinating with other organizations.
Reilly said he has stayed connected to the community since retiring from District 87. He serves on the OSF Community Advisory Board and the Heartland Community College Foundation Board. He has been on the United Way board. He said he also has a good relationship with Boys & Girls Club director Tony Morstatter.
“I intend to reach out to my colleagues in those different organizations to make sure that we're not duplicating services because there are some high-quality programs out there that help to meet the needs of kids and families,” said Reilly.