June Crow has served as the chief financial officer of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Delta (BGCMSD) since 2014, previously serving the organization as the director of finance and the 21st Century Community Learning Center program from 2005 to 2014. In her current role, she is responsible for the financial management of the organization. Her area of expertise and length of service positions her to see the holistic picture of the club’s mission “to enable all young people of the Mississippi Delta, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, and responsible citizens” and the activities required to bring this mission to fruition. She diligently maintains her unique prospective and ensures the organization has the necessary funds and the resources to serve over 2,000 young members annually. She strives to be an effective steward of the funds raised by ensuring resources are properly allocated. She has definitely perfected the art of doing a lot with a little. Ms. Crow manages grants, prepares budgets, forecasting, human resource functions and reporting to donors and grantors on expenditures related to specific grants. Her stewardship ensures all grant funds and donations are used as intended and upholds the standards of organizational transparency.
The region Ms. Crow lives in is the most impoverished region in our country. 99% of the youth served by the club qualify for free/reduced lunches and, in some areas, over 60% of youth live in poverty. Throughout the Delta, children do not have many of the advantages they would if they lived in urban areas. Educating people about what the club does is the organization’s greatest challenge. People think that the club is a daycare facility. In reality, the clubs provide after-school programming for youth 6 to 18 years of age with age appropriate activities in five CORE program areas: character and leadership development, education and career development, health and life skills, the arts, and sports, fitness and recreation. Additional programs supplement these pillars and foster positive relationships with youth development staff, mentors and volunteers. Ms. Crow’s favorite part of her profession is going to the club and having the kids come up to her, smiling and glad to see her. Seeing that the kids are becoming good leaders by getting good grades is very fulfilling.
Prior to this role, Ms. Crow was a bookkeeper at a local pharmacy and medical supply company, and worked alongside her late husband of 25 years in his CPA practice. When her oldest daughter began to work for the club in 2005, the organization was facing some difficult financial, programmatic and governance challenges. She asked if Ms. Crow would be willing to could come and help put the organizations financial books in order. Since then, Ms. Crow has worn many hats in the organization wearing titles such as director of operations, grants manager, program director and director of finance, as well as interim CEO. She has stepped in wherever and however she was needed to make sure operations continued and the club members were provided for.
A lifetime member of the Junior Auxiliary, Ms. Crow serves as a board member for a nursing home and assisted living facility, the Martha Coker Green Houses, and the Yazoo County Chamber of Commerce. She attributes her success to God for giving her the desire to have a service-oriented heart. She sees the needs of the youth and has always had a desire to help them. What differentiates Ms. Crow from others in her field is her tireless tenacity and dedication to achieving the mission of the club.
In recognition of her accomplishments, Ms. Crow was awarded the Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) National Professional Service Award in 2011 and National Service to Youth Award in 2015. In 2017, she was named as the Professional Association of Boys & Girls Clubs’ Mississippi Professional of the Year. In February 2018, she was honored with the BGCA Southeast Region Administrative Staff of the Year Award and in May 2018 at the BGCA National Conference in San Diego, she was chosen as the National Administrative Professional of the Year for outstanding service to the profession and the youth served.
The desire to learn more, help more and grow more has continuously inspired Ms. Crow along her professional journey. She made sure her children achieved their hopes and dreams without the struggles that she herself endured. She wanted her children to have an easier life, and she thinks she has achieved that. Her children are all productive citizens excelling in their chosen career paths. Ms. Crow’s future plans include working with the BGCMSD for five more years and then retiring. Her only regret is that she did not find the work of the clubs earlier in her career. She feels she has grown in her awareness of how and what other people go through on a daily basis. She knows her efforts make a significant contribution towards providing a world-class club experience that assures success is within the reach of every young person who walks through the blue club doors.