Marjorie Kuipers

Michigan Nightlight: What does being a leader mean to you?
Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities Executive Director Marjorie Kuipers: I think that my most important function is getting the right people involved to carry out our mission, including board members. To do this, I work with our board leadership team to identify effective board members, so we have a board that’s passionate about -- and committed to --improving the lives of families in our neighborhoods.
 
As a leader, it is also up to me to make sure that we have the right staff members in place. They are the people who interact

Poverty is the single greatest threat to the well-being of a child. I am filled with shame that one in four children in this, the richest country in the world, lives in poverty.

with the families we serve; one of my most critical functions is to make sure that we hire outstanding people and supply them with the financial and moral support they need to do their jobs. As the leader of this organization, I must identify and hire cause-oriented people who I know will go the extra mile for the organization – people who also will try to maintain a healthy work-life balance. That is important.
 
What is your dream for kids?
My dream for kids is that they are all given every opportunity possible to discover their their interests and talents. I also dream that they’ll be able to fulfill, their potential and what that means to me is access to quality education.
 
What is one concrete thing that could be done to improve the environment for social sector work in Michigan?
Poverty is the single greatest threat to the well-being of a child. I am filled with shame that one in four children in this, the richest country in the world, lives in poverty. My hope is that the citizens of the United States will someday stand united against poverty and make eradicating it a national priority.
 
How do you know you’re making progress?
I know this because we continue to grow, our staff continues to grow, and our programs are expanding.  For instance, our Cook Library Scholars is a new program that we launched on September 16. We have added two staff members within the past year – one works full-time and one part-time. This kind of progress means that we can generate more revenue to

It’s up to me to provide enrichment opportunities to these families; our activities can transport them to a place where they can escape their circumstances, if only for a short time.

support our expanding programs.
 
What are you most proud of?  
I am most proud of the fact that we have a healthy organization, that we are fiscally sound, with a great board and a stable staff. I’m very proud that we have a good reputation in the community, and, most of all, that we are making a difference in the lives of the children we serve.
 
I’m proud and excited about the fact that we are introducing new programs and re-evaluating our programs so that we know which ones will leave a deeper, long-lasting impact on families. We are able to do this because our board and staff members set this as a priority in our last strategic planning session. They did this because we were growing concerned because many children were staying in our programs only until middle school ended, and we want to keep them all the way through high school. So, we’re developing programs to provide older kids leadership opportunities and allow them to help plan and implement programs.
 
Why do you think that it is important to provide an enriching environment for children and families?
Many of the families that we serve live in poverty and suffer a great deal of stress because of that. It’s up to me to provide enrichment opportunities to these families; our activities can transport them to a place where they can escape their circumstances, if only for a short time. These activities can help them learn more about themselves and the world in which they live.