Our Director
Beatrice Clark Shelby
Executive Director; Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center
Marvell, Arkansas
Raised eight miles from Marvell, Beatrice Clark Shelby graduated from Marvell High School in 1966 and obtained a secretary's certificate from Southern Business College in North Little Rock. "I was a daydreamer," she once told a reporter. She read voraciously as a girl. "I didn't see things as other people did. I thought about how I wanted the world to be, not how it was." Ever since graduating from high school, Shelby has worked to improve living conditions for her neighbors. "We must share our blessings," she says. "It is imperative that I and others like me lead by example if we are to produce a generation that understands how to nurture their families." Shelby is the mother of four adult children, and a grandmother. "I am motivated by a vision. Sometimes, I just close my eyes and see a healthy and safe community with affordable and decent housing, accessible and affordable health care...a community that provides living wages for its people and that respects their differences and embraces their creativity."
In 1978, concerned parents in Marvell resolved to take control of the conditions shaping their children’s future. Out of that effort, the Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center, Inc. (BGACDC) was created. Shelby became executive director in 1983. She faced an immediate challenge: The local school district was preventing low-income children from attending class because they were not properly immunized. To solve the problem, Shelby and the director of the Phillips County Health Department agreed to use BGACDC facilities as a satellite health center, offering children free immunizations and other health services. Since then, Shelby’s leadership has led to fruitful alliances with many other organizations, including the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Save the Children Federation, the Marvell School District, Phillips County Extension Services and Mid-Delta Community Services. With the help of such groups, BGACDC has created a summer day-camp program, job-training services, a community-based restaurant, and a training program to nurture young leaders. Shelby also developed a quality preschool education program, based on a national model, the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY).
Executive Director; Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center
Marvell, Arkansas
Raised eight miles from Marvell, Beatrice Clark Shelby graduated from Marvell High School in 1966 and obtained a secretary's certificate from Southern Business College in North Little Rock. "I was a daydreamer," she once told a reporter. She read voraciously as a girl. "I didn't see things as other people did. I thought about how I wanted the world to be, not how it was." Ever since graduating from high school, Shelby has worked to improve living conditions for her neighbors. "We must share our blessings," she says. "It is imperative that I and others like me lead by example if we are to produce a generation that understands how to nurture their families." Shelby is the mother of four adult children, and a grandmother. "I am motivated by a vision. Sometimes, I just close my eyes and see a healthy and safe community with affordable and decent housing, accessible and affordable health care...a community that provides living wages for its people and that respects their differences and embraces their creativity."
In 1978, concerned parents in Marvell resolved to take control of the conditions shaping their children’s future. Out of that effort, the Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center, Inc. (BGACDC) was created. Shelby became executive director in 1983. She faced an immediate challenge: The local school district was preventing low-income children from attending class because they were not properly immunized. To solve the problem, Shelby and the director of the Phillips County Health Department agreed to use BGACDC facilities as a satellite health center, offering children free immunizations and other health services. Since then, Shelby’s leadership has led to fruitful alliances with many other organizations, including the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Save the Children Federation, the Marvell School District, Phillips County Extension Services and Mid-Delta Community Services. With the help of such groups, BGACDC has created a summer day-camp program, job-training services, a community-based restaurant, and a training program to nurture young leaders. Shelby also developed a quality preschool education program, based on a national model, the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY).
Leadership style
Shelby weaves concepts of leadership and personal responsibility into a single fabric. "Leadership is like rearing a child," Shelby says. "When I delegate responsibilities, sometimes I say, 'That is your baby; you need to rock it.' Give a person the responsibility and also authority to do a job, and say to that person, ‘You do not give the baby back to me unless you have done everything you know how for your baby.’" Shelby never suggests that she is the leader; she builds teams that inspire confidence and teach civic responsibility. This objective reflects her abiding ambition to help people learn to help themselves. Through its Youth Leadership Development Training initiative, BGACDC enrolls Marvell youth in out-of-town leadership, management, and organizational training programs.
"What sets Ms. Shelby apart is her creativity, her consummate unselfishness, and her abiding commitment to the task across the years of toil, success and frustration," says Glenn Nishimura, program director, Mid South Delta LISC. "She would tell you that the best thing BGACDC has done is the development of leaders, the capacity-building in youngsters. A presentation by BGACDC is always different from others. It is never a monologue by the director but a series of talks and demonstrations by staffers, volunteers, community residents — and the children, of all ages."
"What sets Ms. Shelby apart is her creativity, her consummate unselfishness, and her abiding commitment to the task across the years of toil, success and frustration," says Glenn Nishimura, program director, Mid South Delta LISC. "She would tell you that the best thing BGACDC has done is the development of leaders, the capacity-building in youngsters. A presentation by BGACDC is always different from others. It is never a monologue by the director but a series of talks and demonstrations by staffers, volunteers, community residents — and the children, of all ages."
The future
Shelby has launched what she considers her most ambitious program yet, one focused on people of parenting age, 18 to 39, the group that will be critical to producing a generation of healthy, self-reliant citizens. "We’re trying to get them to the table, so that they can really understand that they need to actively participate in all areas of their children’s lives. We want them involved in creating the program. Right now, that group — young parents — is the one that is missing when it comes to community involvement; they’re the ones who don’t go to city council meetings. We want parents on the council, and on the school board, as well." Leadership, she says, is their baby, too.
"The first thing you notice as you drive into Marvell is a shoe-box-shaped building made of rose-colored cinder blocks. It used to be an abandoned sock factory with a roof so deteriorated that you could look up to the ceiling and see the sky. Today it's the Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center, and it is bringing new hope to Black children.... Beatrice Clark Shelby's strategy is simple: Believe that every member of the community has something to offer. And work, work, work.... 'When I'm dead, I want this work to continue,' she says. And that may mean that the newly vaccinated infant lying in her mother's arms for a well-deserved nap will be one of Beatrice Shelby's successors."
"The first thing you notice as you drive into Marvell is a shoe-box-shaped building made of rose-colored cinder blocks. It used to be an abandoned sock factory with a roof so deteriorated that you could look up to the ceiling and see the sky. Today it's the Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center, and it is bringing new hope to Black children.... Beatrice Clark Shelby's strategy is simple: Believe that every member of the community has something to offer. And work, work, work.... 'When I'm dead, I want this work to continue,' she says. And that may mean that the newly vaccinated infant lying in her mother's arms for a well-deserved nap will be one of Beatrice Shelby's successors."
Our Board
Elton Butler
- Current Employer: Retired
- Previous Employer: Verizon Phone Service
- Education/Training: Emanuel High School
- Experience: Twenty-six years
- Awards and Honors: Perfect attendance on the job and safety awards
- Community Service: Coordinated the community gym in Dewitt, AR and attended Mary Homes Junior College.
Larry Denson
- Current Employer: Hoffinger Industries, Inc.
- Previous Employer: Marvell Public School 1974-1981
- Education/Training: Master of Business Administration Concentration/Human Resources development
- Experience: 7 years in the school system, 31 years Human Resources and Administration
- Awards and Honors: Served as Chair on many Boards and Councils
- Public Office: Member of the Marvell City Council
- Community Service: Rotary, Marvell City Council, Helena Health Foundation, Phillips College Foundation, Phillips County Community Foundation, Society of Human Resources Management, Professional HR Certification
- Personal Details: Member & Church Trustee, Fountain Head Baptist Church. Married to Ruth Denson. 3 Adult Children; Grand Children; Lived in Marvell since 1974
Mark English
- Current Employer: Arkansas State Highway Department
- Previous Employer: Fuller Seed & Supply
- Education/Training: High School Graduate/Certificate in concrete testing, soil testing, and Basic Ag.
- Experience: 3 Years as a Board Member
- Awards and Honors: Certificate for concrete and soil testing/Basic Ag. Certification
- Community Service: Member of the Alliance of Concerned Men
- Personal Details: Family- Shan English (wife), Mark English (son), MaKayla English (daughter). Hobbies- Fishing, Hunting, and Mowing grass
Bertha Gist
- Current Employer: University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Cooperative Extension Program
- Previous Employer: BGACDC
- Education/Training: High School Graduate/Child Development Association License
- Experience: 30 years
- Awards and Honors: 2011 Outstanding EFNEP Assist Award/Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Service 2011
- Community Service: Child Development Service
- Personal Details: Mother of 4 children-3 boys and 1 girl. I love being outside and cooking (esp. Greens and Cha Cha). I feel good when I help people and Children
Artis James
- Current Employer: Pastor Churches- Pilgrim Rest M.B. Church Wabash, AR/Christian Stone Elaine, AR/ Brook Chapter
- Previous Employer: Mid Delta Community Service
- Education/Training: High School Graduate Lake Providence, LA
- Experience: White Oak Farms as a Mechanic 1969-1998/ Farm Labor years, Mid Delta Mechanic 12 years and 7 months/ Howe Lumber Co.
- Awards and honors: Pastoral awards
- Community Service: Pastoral Service and Commitment
- Personal Details: wife; 8 children, Church group singer at one time
