We are excited to announce that our graduate MBA Non-profit Management alum was recently named on the 40 Under 40 listing by the Vancouver Business Journal. Jenny Thompson is the Executive Director for the Vancouver Police Activities League (PAL).
The Police Activities League of Vancouver is a non-profit organization that collaborates with law enforcement agencies to promote positive relationships between law enforcement and youth through community-based educational programs and recreational opportunities in hopes of empowering our young people to make life-enriching decisions and reduce local juvenile crime rates. PAL offers youth, with untapped potential, a variety of programs year-round that foster teamwork, enforce citizenship, and build leaders.
Jenny joined PAL the summer of 2015, just as she was graduating from the University of Portland with her MBA in Nonprofit Management. She brought over 10 years of youth development experience coupled with a passion to giving back to her community. Prior to PAL she was with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Washington where she started their College Prep program and was an AmeriCorps member in Denver, Colorado where she worked with foster youth emancipating out of the system. Outside of PAL you’ll probably find Jenny playing softball, eating good food.
As the Executive Director, she has accomplished quite a lot in a short period. Here is a short listing of highlights since she have become the Executive Director at the Police Activities League.
- Hired in June of 2015
- Ran first ever summer camp at Orchards, starting in June of 2015
- Brought two new teen program partnerships in first year: CHILL where teens got to go snowboarding and Big City Mountaineers where teens got to go on a seven day backpacking trip
- Also in first year piloted a middle school mentoring program with the support of Nautilus, Inc.
- Hired our first permanent part-time employee in the Spring of 2016
- Expanded summer camps to two locations in summer of 2016
- Received a two year, $40,000 capacity building grant through Kaiser Permanente in August of 2016
- Received a $36,000 mentoring grant through National PAL in December of 2016
- Jenny was nominated for the 2017 General George C. Marshall Adult Leadership Award
- In the spring of 2017 PAL received a $10,000 NIKE grant to expand their sports tournament programs
- Hired second Part-Time employee in August of 2017
- Received a 2017 Nonprofit Excellence Award for Collaboration with Vancouver and Evergreen Public Schools.
- Jenny is also a member of the LCC Class of 2018.
- Since I’ve started we given away over 4,000 books, served approximately 3,000+ youth, added new partnerships, hired two employees, and increased our organizational awareness in the community.
We are thrilled and congratulate Jenny on her accomplishments. We wish her even more success in the future. Go Pilot!
Source: Vancouver Police Activities League, photos by Kate Singh.