Marsialle D. Arbuckle

Michigan Nightlight: What does being a leader mean to you?
The Center for Urban Youth and Family Development Executive Director Marsaille Arbuckle: It means providing vision, pulling together various individuals and groups to achieve the goals and visions we create, and going out and achieving them. I spent 27 years achieving my own personal goals in the corporate world. For the last three years, I have been doing work that I can only describe as spirit-led divine intervention. I have overcome so much, including multiple health issues, that God put it in my heart to help youth.
 
I think that the young people really need my help because I have been in their shoes. I am a very hands-on leader -- kind of

I think that the young people really need my help because I have been in their shoes. I am a very hands-on leader -- kind of like a mentor on steroids.

like a mentor on steroids. If can do it, they can, too. I take no excuses. Excuses are the tools of the incompetent, and those who use them seldom become anything more than another excuse.
 
What is your dream for kids?
My dream is focused on opportunity. With youth in foster care, our vision is to integrate group discussions with academics and skills development -- mentoring, tutoring, and the creation of a five-year life plan after transitioning from foster care to adulthood. Those elements, combined with various cultural experiences, will impact various decisions on individuals, family and community.
 
What is one concrete thing that could be done to improve the environment for social sector work in Michigan?
I think it is the enhancement of collaboration between various agencies, entities and organizations -- a willingness to work together to meet the needs of the community to achieve the common good for the people who live here. It can mean every section of the population, from youth to seniors.
 
One example is that when I started The Center for Urban Youth and Family Development, I worked with the Hartford Memorial Baptist Church and the Hartford Development Foundation to be able to rent and utilize facilities at the church at a greatly reduced cost. The Prevention Network provided a grant and The Youth Development Commission provided other needed funding and the Department of Human Services provided our youth referrals. We all worked together.
 
How do you know you’re making progress?
My organization is growing financially as well as with assets. We started with rented office space and we now own a house that is worth at least $50,000. We have renovated it to hold our office space and to house participants from our Step-Beyond Program. Our agency’s budget has grown from $15,000 to $100,000 and we anticipate sustaining our growth.
 
Another factor is that we area increasing the number of people we can serve, from 30 the first year to 70 today.
 
What are you most proud of?
I am proud that I have been able to pull so many entities together to meet the needs of young people transitioning out of the foster care system. I am also proud to be recognized by a prestigious institution like Indiana University -- I was fortunate enough to be named a member of the Distinguished Alumni Council at its School of Public & Environmental Affairs.
 

I’m proud of the fact that I’m actually helping people. I am proud to have the ability to establish credibility within the world of child welfare, particularly in foster care, because I was raised in the system.

I’m proud of the fact that I’m actually helping people. I am proud to have the ability to establish credibility within the world of child welfare, particularly in foster care, because I was raised in the system. I know firsthand the issues that these kids face. I am a product of foster care.
 
What keeps you awake at night?
I lie awake trying to figure out how I am going to finance the entire operation, finance it while trying to develop a long-term strategy that will allow us to sustain and grow while providing first-class, top-notch service to meet the needs of the young people that I serve. Sometimes you can lose your focus on a program by focusing too much on running the business, and I do not want to do that.
 
The reason that God led me to do this work is because of the young people. He did not bring me here to grow a big business so much as he did to help people. Of course, you have to focus on the business end of it, but you cannot do one without the other.