SAN MARCOS - Kyev Tatum, president of the Mitchell Center Boys & Girls Clubs of South Central Texas has completed the Executive Leadership Program in historic Charleston, South Carolina. Sponsored by Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Executive Leadership Program involves participants in intense exploration of quality management principles required for success in the Boys & Girls Club movement. The program is designed to increase the competencies of an executive professional by building the knowledge and skills required for the effective operation and administration of a Boys & Girls Club. It combines managerial theory with real work application in actual Club and community settings.

The curriculum is intended for chief professional officers who have completed the New Executive Orientation, which Tatum completed in Colorado Springs, Colorado earlier this year. “The future is bright for our organization and I’m confident I am prepared to move the Mitchell Center Boys & Girls Clubs in the right direction,” Tatum said. Since it’s inception, less than one percent of over 60,000 professionals in the movement have completed the program. Tatum was 1 of 14, and the only Texan selected to participate in the program. “I’m honored to lead our team in the development phase of the only university-affiliated club in Texas,” says, Tatum, former program coordinator at Southwest Texas State University, who envisions the creation a state of the arts youth facility for kids in the San Marcos area. “We have a futuristic model, five acres of land in historic Dunbar, and a line-up of more than 30 tested, proven, and nationally recognized programs that address some of the most critical issues affecting today’s youth,” says, Tatum, founder of San Marcos’ first charter school, which is housed on the campus of the San Marcos Baptist Academy. “We [the Mitchell Center] are prepared to build a facility dedicated to kids,” Tatum said.

Founded in 1995, the Mitchell Center is a beacon of hope for many children in the community and is the only organization in Texas chartered and licensed to operate early childhood development centers, charter schools, and university-affiliated Boys & Girls Clubs through Boys & Girls Clubs of America. For more information on the Boys & Girls Clubs contact the Mitchell Center at 512/805-3000.