When Dr. Willie D. Larkin returned to the snowy and peaceful Oregon area, just south of Madison, he was envisioning a quiet and well-earned retirement. His house, which he and his wife had personally built from the ground up had become a warm home filled with photographs and plaques from the places he’d been. He had spent more than four decades as an educator and community leader at some of the most prestigious institutions in America.
But just as many who have dedicated their lives to furthering the minds and skills of young people have discovered, Dr. Larkin was reminded — once you’re in it, you’re never really out.
Not long after coming back to Dane County after years spent in leadership positions at two HBCUs — he was Chief of Staff and Executive Assistant to the president of Morgan State University for five years and later himself served as President of Grambling State University — Dr. Larkin received a call from the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County asking if he would lend his help and expertise.
The Boys and Girls Club has been a whirlwind of activity the past few months. As they look to address the future needs of growing local communities like Sun Prairie, the Club has sought to expand both physically into new spaces as well as pursue new visions of what community outreach can be in Dane County.
For the better part of 2018, the Club has been seeking out a location and concept for a cutting-edge skilled trade center that would serve as a building block for youth to learn the types of skills they’ll need to hold living wage jobs as well as learn management skills in order to further the possibility that they themselves could be future employers.
The skilled trade center would focus on kids from kindergarten all the way to age 16 and use mentors from various professions to prepare them for the prospect of having quality careers. And who better to run it than a lifelong educator?
“I hadn’t been back for more than three months when (former Boys and Girls Club CEO) Michael Johnson and (interim CEO) Rod Mitchell called me,” Dr. Larkin told Madison365. “It’s been really refreshing to know I can do something to help young people and help build capacity for Madison and Dane County.”
Dr. Larkin says the BGCDC has looked at over 25 potential sites for the future skilled trade center but is trying to nail down the perfect spot. The BGCDC will either look to build a new building at the venue it winds up choosing or renovate an existing building. The hope is that the new spot will be on an accessible bus line as well as close to Madison’s south side, where some of the neediest communities will be.
Madison has multiple skilled trade centers that focus on adults. Centro Hispano and Urban League, for example, have been utilizing the concept for several years. But the Boys and Girls Club would be unique in its training of youth for future employability.
“We’re trying to create a pipeline within the community so we have a pathway to career opportunities for people,” Dr. Larkin told Madison365. “We’re looking at it a little differently from others who have skilled trade centers. Ours is working with K-16 (kindergarten through college). We know that a first grader isn’t going to be swinging a hammer, but the quicker you can introduce them to these type of skills, the more on the back end you’ll have people willing to go into those fields. What we are trying to do is give young people an option they can look at. We’re not just looking at construction work, but also teaching them entrepreneurship so they can start a company and become future employers themselves.”
Dr. Larkin points to the fact that the Madison area is devoid of black contractors and that there needs to be more black people entering skilled trades in terms of becoming employers themselves.
The Boys and Girls Club will work hand-in-hand with the Madison Area Builders Association (MABA), which has approximately 430 members. Many of those members would serve as instructors for students and the BGCDC is working on crafting a memorandum of understanding with MABA.
“All the instructors will be in the industry,” Dr. Larkin said. “We’re talking to Madison College to see if they’ll work with us because some of the trades will require certifications. We are also focused on essential skills like the value of getting up and being to work on time and staying all day. Things like entrepreneurship, opening a bank account, stewardship, how to make great decisions. We want to focus on the whole person.”
Dr. Larkin would prefer to retrofit an existing building if that is an available option. The hope is to have the skilled trades center up and running by 2020. The BGCDC is working hard to fundraise, create a curriculum, write a strategic framework and put together an advisory board that will work with Dr. Larkin.
At the end of it all, Dr. Larkin will have helped create another pathway for young people to have successful lives and live out new dreams. It has been what his entire career has been dedicated to.
45 years. 6 Universities. That’s what Dr. Larkin’s experience includes. He worked at the University of Georgia for several years before spending eight years at Ohio State University. From there he was at Auburn for 25 years. He followed that with stints at the University of Wisconsin and Morgan State before becoming President of Grambling State.
His time at Grambling State seems to particularly resonate with him. One of the foremost HBCUs, Grambling State offered Dr. Larkin a chance to be part of a legendary program.
Grambling State is perhaps known best for its athletics. Eddie Robinson, who coached football at Grambling from 1941 until 1997 is college football’s most renowned African-American coach. Robinson coached quarterback James Harris, who became the NFL’s first ever black quarterback. He also coached Doug Williams, the first black man to quarterback a team to a Super Bowl Championship in 1987.
Dr. Larkin spoke at length about how wonderful it was to be at a place like Grambling with such rich history. Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame defensive end Willie Davis, along with three other members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, played at Grambling. Dr. Larkin has had the opportunity to rub shoulders with many of these luminaries.
It shows the effect that one educator – in this case a coach like Eddie Robinson – can inspire young people to go on to spectacular things and create ripples in their communities that last into perpetuity.
Dr. Larkin saw what an icon like Robinson was able to accomplish in young people’s lives. But it’s no more or less than the ripple effect a good mentor can have on a youth in a place like a skilled trades center. Being able to teach that young person a lifelong skill leads to better employment and more stable housing for that individual. Teaching them entrepreneurship enables them to teach the next generation the same skills. And so on.
“HBCUs are more energized than traditional colleges,” Larkin said. “They do academics and they do it well, but they have a different kind of rhythm and work ethic. I helped young kids get education and achieve lifetime goals. Many of them were first in their family college students.”
The BGCDC is hoping that the right kind of skilled trades center can have the same type of ripple effects in the lives of youths that a place like Grambling State has had. Dr. Larkin praised the leadership and vision of new BGCDC CEO Rod Mitchell, saying he had the full support of Dr. Larkin and many other people.
The BGCDC is still in the early stages of creating the template for the youth skilled trades center and there will be a multitude of community-related challenges ahead for the Club. But with the energetic and experienced Dr. Larkin and the steadfast CEO Mitchell, the Club appears ready to take on one of its most ambitious and potentially community-altering projects.
