Retiring Boys & Girls Club of Allentown leader left legacy: An open door

• After 40 years, Deb Fries-Jackson is retiring as chief executive officer of the Boys & Girls Club of Allentown
• Fries-Jackson was instrumental in the merger of the Boys Club and Girls Club in Allentown in 2002
• Many of the club's educational programs for underprivileged youth were founded by Fries-Jackson

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The organization’s measure of success under her stewardship can be gauged by its doors: The front doors of the Boys & Girls Club of Allentown.

For so many years, those doors beckoned Lehigh Valley youth in need of guidance, caring and direction.

They're the same welcoming doors through which those same children have exited smarter, healthier and better prepared to reach their full potential as productive and responsible members of their community.

For 40 years, Deb Fries-Jackson has made a difference in the lives of the about 1,000 inner-city youth from Allentown who pass through those doors each year.

And now, Fries-Jackson has decided to exit those very doors of change.

She's retiring as chief executive officer after 40 years.

“When I think back on my time with the Boys & Girls Club, I think about if we weren’t here,” she said.

“Kids wouldn’t be as safe. We have created a productive environment for kids to go after school. We don’t want them looking at TV or playing on an iPad or device after school.

“Forty is a good number to leave on, don’t you think?” she said with a laugh.

'The absolute best for their children'

After leaving a career in public education to enter a nonprofit world she said she didn’t see coming, Fries- Jackson was chosen director of programs at the Girls Club of Allentown in 1983.

She became its executive director four years later.

Ultimately, she was made chief executive officer of the Boys & Girls Club of Allentown, a merger she spearheaded and finalized in just three months in 2002.

An Allentown native, Fries-Jackson has changed hats and helped change children’s lives for the better.

“We have a lot of single parents whose kids come to the club," she said.

"Parents want the absolute best for their children, but they sometimes need assistance. If a single mom is working, she may need a place for their children to go after school.”

That place is the Boys & Girls Club, where the doors are always open.

The club flourishes

Under Fries-Jackson’s leadership, the club flourished, expanding from its modest rowhouse beginnings to its current location at 1302 Turner St. in Allentown in 1989.

Additional locations in Allentown are at 720 N. 6th St., a teen center at 641 N. 7th St. and at Cumberland Gardens at 501 E. Susquehanna Ave.

“When most people think of the Boys & Girls Club, they think of ‘swim and gym,’” Fries-Jackson said. “But it’s so much more. When I got here, we started education programs.”

Among the many such programs she cited is Make Your M.A.R.K., or Motivated Academically Ready Kids.

Under the umbrella of education and career development, M.A.R.K has provided individualized educational activities for more than 4,000 children in math and reading, with motivational incentives for successful completion of work.

“We work hard with the kids in reading and math,” Fries-Jackson said. “Not to replace what they’re learning in schools, but to help improve those skills.”

Other programs include:

• Istation, an award-winning, comprehensive e-learning program for reading, math and Spanish literacy used by millions of students around the world.
• Literacy 4 R Youth, comprehensive program that develops reading skills by using distinct daily sessions — homework help, computer lab support and reading group activities.
• SMART Moves, a comprehensive prevention program that teaches participants how to resist alcohol and drug use and other risky behaviors through life skills, leadership development and peer support.

“Deb’s commitment to the development and education of our youth is second to none,” said Paul Barbehenn, board chairman of the Boys & Girls Club of Allentown.

“It has been both professionally and personally rewarding to work with her over the years. She is one of the premier nonprofit CEOs in the Lehigh Valley who leaves our organization in a very strong position structurally and financially. We wish her well on her retirement.”

And so do the children

Fries-Jackson noted the many success stories of children who came to the Boys & Girls Club in need of structure and direction and, perhaps, a friendly face.

Among those success stories is the organization’s participation in the Boys & Girls Club National Youth of the Year program.

For 75 years, the program has honored and celebrated the nation’s most inspiring teens and their incredible stories of leadership, service, academic excellence and dedication to a healthy lifestyle.

Candidates compete to advance from competition in Allentown to the state level, then to regional and national competition.

“Over the past 20 years, we’ve had three state winners,” Fries-Jackson said. “One of those young people was a regional winner who became one of five to compete for a national award.”

While telling the story, Fries-Jackson fell silent — perhaps a pause of pride.

“Just imagine,” she said. “A young person in front of a panel of judges, no notes, and giving a three-minute speech on what the Boys & Girls Club has meant to them. Imagine the composure that takes.”

No imagining where much of that composure was developed.

Through a youngster’s hard work and determination.

Through the direction and encouragement of a director now waving goodbye.

Through the unending assistance found on the inside of those welcoming front doors.