Mark Munger
I'm Mark Munger, and this is a Manager's Special from Siouxland Public Media. The Sanford Community Center has served Siouxlanders for 75 years. To commemorate its role in the community, Jim Tillman is documenting the institution's history, collecting the stories and the voices of those who have carried out its mission. For this part of the series, he spoke with current director, Fitzgerald Grant.
Jim Tillman
I'm going to start off by reading this: The Sanford Center was incorporated in 1933 and was known as the Booker T Washington Center. The primary functions are to assist youth and adults in making a smooth transition into our community and to promote racial harmony and equality to all those who were involved in programs and activities sponsored by the center. Transitioning to a community center in 1951, the purpose and mission has evolved into acting as a character, building institution for youth and assisting their families with community issues. The Sanford Community Center, located at 1700 Geneva Street, has to stood as a beacon of community spirit and engagement for 75 years, started with Elzona Trosper and George Boykin, and here we are today with Fitzgerald Grant, the executive director of the Sanford Community Center. Welcome, Fitz.
Fitz Grant
Thanks for having me.
Jim Tillman
Fitz. Now he's a native of Buford, South Carolina.
Fitz Grant
Buford, South Carolina.
Jim Tillman
Did I pronounce it right?
Fitz Grant
Buford. Yes.
Jim Tillman
Living in Sioux City since 1987?
Fitz Grant
Yes.
Jim Tillman
How did you end up in Sioux City, Iowa?
Fitz Grant
Wow. Man, a journey. I grew up in Buford, South Carolina, but also, in Buford, I grew up on an island, St Helena Island. This island is known to the Gullah people, we were right on the coast. I was raised by a single mom, six of us in the family, and, you know, when I was a sophomore in high school, my mom wanted to show her some things different in life, so she moved us to Lawton, Oklahoma, and I entered into my sophomore year in Lawton, Oklahoma, graduated 1985, attended Cameron University for about two years, and then after that, my journey began out here to Sioux City, Iowa.
Jim Tillman
Fitz, when I met you, you were the program director and you were responsible for after school and summer programs.
Fitz Grant
Yes.
Jim Tillman
What was that like? How was your passion for kids...
Fitz Grant
You know, reflecting, you know, when I first became a part of the Sanford Center, you know, I did gang outreach, but then I actually got into the role of program director. And for me, it was a great opportunity to begin to work with young people that I could identify with, that I could relate with. Growing up in Buford, on this island, St. Helena, I begin to work with kids at an early age. And the reason why I say that is because in my family, we're boy heavy, and I'm the second oldest grand, so I have other cousins that maybe five years behind me, and because of me being older than them, I couldn't readily, you know, play in the yard, things of that nature. So at an early age, I began coaching,
Jim Tillman
OK.
Fitz Grant
coaching, coaching on the sideline, whether it be, you know, sandlot, basketball, football, baseball, things of that nature. And, you know, when I went to college, you know, I thought I was gonna be, you know, a music teacher. I tried that for a little bit. Actually got into business for a little bit as well, too. But as my journey began in Sioux City, Iowa, at Briar Cliff University, I decided I was gonna go into sociology, social work,
Jim Tillman
OK
Fitz Grant
and that's why I got my degree in. So, coming to the Sanford Center and being given opportunity as program director, you know, I felt like I was in heaven, to be honest with you. I felt like I was in heaven. You know, I finally got a chance to do something that I knew that I wanted to do from an early age, and that was to just coach kids, you know, be a part of their lives to give something back to these young people. And more importantly, at the Sanford Center, you know, learning that history. You know, I started my career, you know, at the Boys Club in 1990. Stayed with them for about two years. And then George Boykin, past executive director, gave me an opportunity to come on-board at the Sanford Center. And you know what? I took that opportunity, because I don't know if Mr. Boykin knew, but I had been watching him in the community, and always really wanted to get close to him. And when he came and he asked, I was like, Man, this is like, Wow, man, God, kind of he answered my prayers.
Jim Tillman
That's all right.
Fitz Grant
I had an opportunity to get, more importantly, get close to him, but to learn from the best. And that was pretty cool. But, you know, also getting an opportunity to work with these kids. And man, I tell you what, man, 30 plus years of doing it, hey, I'm excited, just like I was when I first started every day to get up to take on the moment, to take on these kids and where they're at, meeting their needs, things of that nature. So yeah,
Jim Tillman
You mentioned the gang outreach program, which I believe it started in 1993, and you were one of three of the original one...
Fitz Grant
One of three original dream team members.
Speaker 1
Tell us what that was about.
Fitz Grant
Man, you know, Mr. Boykin, you know, he said, "Hey, you know, we starting this innovative program. You know, I want you to be a part of it." And I was like, okay, cool, you know. So really didn't know what to expect. But, you know, after getting our first assignment, which was at Woodrow Wilson, this thing was serious. You know, at that particular time, Sioux City had a very strong gang presence. Kids were in the middle school, Woodrow Wilson, pretty much controlling that school, and Mr. Boykin was called upon to bring calm to that school. So he came up with this vision, putting workers within the schools that students can identify with. Okay, so me being African American, you know, we had a Hispanic gentleman and also an Asian gentleman, George Sayavong, dear friend of mine that has passed on now, but the three of us, you know, we worked together as a team. And that concept really worked, you know, going into those schools, you know, when, when the students saw us come in as a unified front, we broke down a lot of barriers. We started a lot of that interracial fighting, things of that nature. We were able to get into the homes and to bring the right messaging to the to the to the families that could not speak English at that particular time. So it was important for us to just come as a strong front and continue to work with these kids.
Jim Tillman
And that gained national recognition for that.
Fitz Grant
It did! In fact, back in the 90s, if I stand correct, we won a One Iowa award for our efforts. You know, Woodrow Wilson, like I said, was gang controlled. Within two years, we brought calm to that school. We were called upon to put out fires, if you will. We're stationed in one classroom, and all we would do is do crisis intervention. For the first year, we just did crisis intervention. I mean, when a crisis came up in that school, they called outreach workers, and we went in, and we took care of that situation where, you know, the teachers could feel safe coming to school, the students could feel safe coming to school. More importantly, the administration of the school could feel safe as well, too. But it was some chaotic times, but, you know, we persevered through those, those moments in that situation.
Jim Tillman
What were some of your early challenges in 2016?
Fitz Grant
you know, the first thing we one of the first challenges I met is funding. You know, you come in as a new executive director. You know, Mr. Boykin, you know, he had done a great job, you know, preparing me for for the position. And then after he left, you know, I felt like people felt like people felt like they could come in and try to take advantage of the agency, more or less. Thank God he taught me some good things, and he taught me how to fight and stay stay focused, stay in the trenches, you know, and put the Center first. And like I said, one of the things that I faced was funding cuts right out of the gate. They were trying to bring down our outreach program, and we fought tooth and nails. We stayed the course, we met, we created some strategies to keep that program going. And I will say today that the program has been running since I've been the executive director. So that's one of the main challenges for me. One of the things that sticks out in my mind, one of the things where, you know, I lost a little bit of sleep over too, you know, getting up, you know, many a nights, man, I kind of walked a little path in my basement, just praying and asking God for wisdom and understanding, but more probably for strength to continue to fight this journey and not to give up. Up. You know, that's one thing I learned about, you know, being at Sanford Center for many years. One thing is that we don't give up. We fight to the end. And, you know, like I said, some of the things that Mr. Boykin taught me, but more importantly, just kind of, you know, reading and looking back into the history, you know, taught me to just keep, keep fighting, in spite of, you know, if one door closed, you know, you look for another door to open up, you know. So, yeah.
Jim Tillman
Wow. Great advice. And I'm sure just think back to how proud Art and Stella Sanford are,
Fitz Grant
oh, wow.
Jim Tillman
I mean, to see the evolution, to see that it's still going,
Fitz Grant
Yeah, man. I think they would be very proud, man, if they were still here. I mean, golly. man, our center, man, we've touched a lot of lives. You know the expanded programs, you know. You know the gang outreach program, you know, you know before and after school programs. You know, ACT prep programs, you know, frontline now, we're not gang outreach, but we're frontline mental health intervention program. We're still, you know, reaching families and kids in this community. You know, roughly, I think we probably see anywhere between, you know, 1000-1200, you know, people that come through that center within a year, because you're touching so many different lives. You know, we're a resource center. People stop it just to get, you know, resources or get instructed on where they should go the next step in their life, you know. So we're still an agency that still helps people when they come in off of the street.
Jim Tillman
And what's amazing about it today, you're carrying on the tradition that started at the Booker T Washington Center.
Fitz Grant
We are, you know, which is a cool thing. And you know, one thing I'm going to say is this, we have never lost sight of the beginning, when they put this in place, the Booker T Washington Center, now the Sanford Center. We've never strayed from that foundation. We're still on point to this day. You know, as I look back and reflect, even like I said, we look at some of the old history, we're still doing the same things they did back in the beginning. And they said sometimes, if things are, you know, if it's not broken, you shouldn't change it. And we're not going to change it, because we're true to that mission, you know. And we still do that every day. As an executive director, you know, I'm a hands on guy still in the trenches, so, yeah, we're still living that dream.
Mark Munger
You are listening to a Manager's Special on Siouxland Public Media. Jim Tillman is interviewing the director of the Sanford Community Center, Fitzgerald Grant, as part of our series documenting the Center's 75 years. You can find our interview with former director George Boykin at kwit.org.
Jim Tillman
You talked about some of the challenges and perceptions that people might have in Sioux City, you know, it's, it's, there's a perception it's a Black agency. Talk about that.
Fitz Grant
Yeah, we're a Community agency. You know, the Center was started by a group of, you know, church folks from the West side area Sioux City. But the Sanford Center is an organization that's inclusive. You know, we want people to come in. Color is not important. We want people to come in and receive the help they need, the services they need. You know, that perception that is just for blacks only? No, that's not true. No, we will serve anybody that walks through our door, you know. And like I said, since I've been there, we've been doing it, and we will continue to still do it to this day.
Jim Tillman
That's
Fitz Grant
To this day!
Jim Tillman
That's great, because it's about community.
Fitz Grant
It's about community! it's about community. And, you know, being in this community, we got a lot of neighbors, you know. You know, God tells us that we should love our neighbor. And they're part of this community. So that's what we do. Our agency is a loving agency, you know. You know, we talk about building relationship. We do that one person at a time. That's how we build, build community, One person, one relationship at a time.
Jim Tillman
Throughout the years, I've been rather been teaching pro teaching classes at the Center, or just knowing other people in the community that have had programs at the center. I mean, I just think back to, I think Tony Drake's boxing and the Sanford Center Boxing Club, or whatever it was.
Fitz Grant
That's it! Had the Steppers. You know, we had basketball teams. You know, football teams, you know.
Jim Tillman
You mentioned earlier that you had that coaching...
Fitz Grant
Oh, yeah,
Jim Tillman
in you early. You are, some people may not know this, but you are an incredible motivator. It, and you can coach,
Fitz Grant
Wow.
Jim Tillman
And the reason I say, I've seen him firsthand, and I knew my son could play basketball, but no, when he got on the Sanford Center team, he came alive. I didn't know he could even play that well.
Fitz Grant
Yeah.
Jim Tillman
How do you motivate these kids?
Fitz Grant
Man, you know, golly, so I play a little bit of basketball at Briar Cliff. By no stretch of imagination I was a great athlete. I think I was a little bit, you know, less than average, but I was a part of a team. And being at Briar Cliff, it taught me teamwork. But more importantly, it taught me perseverance. It taught me how to work within a unit, and it taught me that we're all in this together. So when I went over to the Sanford Center, one thing I wanted to do was coach basketball. Like I mentioned before, I was a coach. I did that sandlot type stuff coaching my cousins when I were younger. But when I got to the Sanford Center, I said, "Hey, Mr. Boykin. Hey listen, I think I want to do a basketball team."And he said, "Go ahead and do it!" So we started out at Woodrow Wilson, and man, let me tell you those kids, man, those kids, they bought in to everything that I was teaching them because they knew I cared about them. And let me tell you something. And I tell kids this all the time, if you could play for the Sanford Center, you could play for anybody. And we sent great athletes on to the Sioux City Community School District to play sports. But basketball was one of my things. I mean, I cared about those young boys, and I didn't give them no breaks. You know, I would, I would lock the door and for two hours, you know, we would have, we would have, you know, some serious practices.
Jim Tillman
How can you have a basketball team and you didn't have a gym for a while?
Fitz Grant
I did have a gym! That's one thing that Sanford Center teaches you, you know, it teaches you how to overcome situations, right? I knew I didn't have a basketball gym per se, but I knew I could still have a basketball team. And I wanted to show these young people that in spite of obstacles in your life, you can persevere. You just got to put your mind to it. You just got to want to... you got to want it. And I would tell kids, you know, your dreams are right here. Just close your hand. Pull it right here. You have it. And that's what I did. I mean, that was so funny. You talk about that, but I laugh about that all the time. Man, I never had a gym, but we had some of the best basketball teams that ever come out of Sioux City, Iowa. And I tell anybody, let's have a conversation right now, if I get on Facebook and I talk about Sanford Center basketball, all the kids that have played for me throughout the years, they start talking about the teams they've been on who was the best, but I think the one thing that comes to mind is that they knew I cared for them.
Jim Tillman
Yes.
Fitz Grant
they knew I cared about them. They knew I wasn't there to make them feel bad. I was there to uplift these kids. We did some incredible things. And one of the other reasons why I think the basketball team was so impactful was we took a lot of trips. We traveled. We traveled. But where the work began was when we would travel. We would have a lot of deep conversations in that van. And by design, I would take kids far away so we could have talk time in the van.
Jim Tillman
So it was more than basketball.
Fitz Grant
It was more than basketball! It was it was an opportunity to pour into these young boys, because they were just like my little brothers, my cousins, my nephews, and I had an opportunity to just share and laugh. We would laugh and have fun, but more importantly, we would get serious, but at the end of the day, when we strapped up on that basketball court, they didn't care if they were black, white, Hispanic, Native American, Asian. The only color that they bled was blue, because that's what our uniforms were. We had blue uniforms, and that's what they cared about. And at the end of the day, those kids went out and performed that game. It just was mind boggling. I took some kids that nobody never really wanted, and at the end of this they thought that we had, I was plucking kids on an all star team, and in fact, it was just kids from the Siouxland community that people overlooked. And I said, You know what? I'm gonna give them a chance.
Jim Tillman
The first football or basketball team that I was on was coached by Archie Arvin,
Fitz Grant
Oh yeah!
Jim Tillman
the Sanford Center.
Fitz Grant
One of the greats.
Jim Tillman
Yeah, and we had, it was seventh grade, and we first time ever put on football pads, shoulder pads and helmet.
Fitz Grant
I mean, you talk about that, but that was one of the man, you know, I used to look forward to the start of the season because, you know, we, you know, one thing about our basketball season, we would prepare and condition. You know, most people just pick up the ball couple of weeks before practice. We'd be two months in before our first game. And one of the cool things was, you talk about putting on the shoulder pads and the helmets, you know, one of the cool things that sticks in my mind to this day, going into that first game and setting the room up in a half circle, and setting out those new uniforms and sweatsuits and bags and sneakers... and those kids eyes, man! You could just see a sense of pride in these young boys and willing to go out there as one and perform this game of basketball.
Jim Tillman
That's all right.
Fitz Grant
Yeah, so yeah.
Jim Tillman
And it's grate that they had new uniforms, because our uniforms wasn't new. They was hand-me-downs...
Fitz Grant
I would tell you now the first set of uniforms, they were hand-me-downs.They were! But you know, at the end of the day, you know, you just, the things that you want, you just go after it. You know, you just go after those things. And I felt like, you know, our young kids need to be in a situation where they look like they belong. And, you know, the reason why I tell you that, I tell you a story. When I worked at the Boys Club, we played in the Haywood Hoop League, and this is where they were playing at the old Haywood school.
Jim Tillman
OK
Fitz Grant
I can remember, man, we didn't have any money for for jerseys, uniforms, things of that nature. So what we did was we took a magic marker, and we drew the number on some T shirts. And I could remember going into that into that gymnasium, and the people looking at us like we didn't belong. And I saw the despair in those kids eye, and I said, "Man, if I ever do this again, we're gonna have some uniforms." But we still wasn't again, I think we blew that team up by about 50 points.You know, I say this, my mother always told me, man, she said, "Boy, you take nothing and turn it into something. That's what you do. You take nothing and turn it into something. Don't let the 'I don't have' stop you. Go get what you want." And I've already kept that to my heart, man, I've always kept that.
Jim Tillman
Fitz, George Boykin was the... I don't know how many years he was the executive director, 40 something? You've got at least 30 more years to go. So where do you see? Where do you see the center at in 30 years?
Fitz Grant
I think, strong as ever, still a foundation in this community, the base, you know, the go to agency, if you will. I see us still being here, impacting lives in this community. You just don't start something in 1933, transition in 1951, and then decide that you'll call it quits. I hope that the next you know, Miss Trosper, Mr. Boykin, Fitz Grant, comes along after me. I hope that that right Somebody comes into that agency and has the desire to want to impact lives, but more importantly, fall in love with with an agency. I think that's the one thing that I've done. And I know Mr. Boykin and Miss Trosper, you know, I look at those guys and their history, and I can truly say I think they were in love with that agency, because I know from Mr. Boykin, and all the conversations that we've had in the past, the way he talked about the agency, you know, and you got to either love this or you don't.
Jim Tillman
Wow.
Fitz Grant
And I say that because I've been there for 32 plus years, and I could have left. But because that love for that agency, the love for the Siouxland community, and wanting to impact lives, has kept me there. And I see our agency, you know, in the next 30 plus years, being even stronger. Maybe we might have four locations. I don't know. But that's something that I've thought about, and, you know, want to see happen. Maybe set that, that plan in action before I get out of there. You know, I will say this, though, I don't know about me, another 30 years! But probably another 15.... like a nine-year-old,
Jim Tillman
Sure, sure.
Mark Munger
Jim Tillman interviewed Fitzgerald Grant director of the Sanford Community Center for Siouxland Public Media. This interview is part of a larger project documenting the Center's 75 years of serving the people of Sioux City. Jim's interview with former director George Boykin can be found on our website, kwit.org. I'm Mark Munger, and this is listener supported, community driven, Siouxland Public Media.
