Joliet Boys & Girls Club hires branch manager

The Boys & Girls Club of Joliet recently hired Dayla Wilson as its branch manger.

Hiring Wilson, a former human resource specialist for Joliet Job Corps, as the club’s branch manager was part of the strategic planning in programming, said Chantel Gamboa, CEO and executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Joliet.

“It was important to have someone at this level of leadership to help support the vision and to support Stephen Lee’s passion and desire to work with teens,” Gamboa said.

Lee is the club’s youth development professional.

Although Wilson said she is new to the Boys & Girls Club as an employee, she is not new to the club’s culture.

“My father was a member, and he actually worked here at the Boys & Girls Club in the ’70s,” Wilson said. “My daughter is a member, and her father also was a member.”

Wilson said she applied for the position because she loves working in outreach and with high-risk youth.

She has previous experience with the Heal the Streets Ministry and the J.F. Holder Foundation, a nonprofit that works with high-risk youth. Wilson also assisted at the Spanish Community Center in Joliet for a short time.

Club programming includes a focus on reading programs for children in first through third grade, STEM for middle school students and social-emotional learning for middle school students and teens.

Wilson said she spends time talking to teens to assess their needs and strengths, and then provides resources to foster their success.

This emphasis on secondary education lets teens – who “may encounter drugs on every corner” – know they have other choices and options.

Wilson wants to help teens explore what looks like success to them and then help them find a pathway to that success. For instance, will they attend college or a trade school?

The message Wilson wants teens to hear is, “We really believe you can do something great.”

Teens who come to the club often don’t have adults at home who regularly engage with them. But that isn’t necessarily the parents’ fault, Wilson said.

“A lot of the parents are really busy,” Wilson said. “Some parents have three, four, five kids. And I can only imagine how many hours they work.”