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Sybyl Atwood: A career of bringing resources to individuals, families in need
By Duane M. Elling
“While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”
This quote from Eugene Debs, a prominent American writer, lecturer and labor rights activist during the early 1900s, appears on a small plaque alongside Sybyl Atwood’s desk and reflects her philosophy toward community change.
“People often see society’s problems as belonging to someone else. They look at poverty, racism and injustice, and think, ‘Somebody should do something about that’,” she said.
“We have to recognize that these problems affect us all, that we may even contribute to their very existence. When we reach that sort of genuine understanding, we’re more likely to see the importance of stepping forward and helping to do something about them.”
Atwood speaks from experience. For more than 55 years -- including 40 in the Mott Foundation’s own hometown of Flint, Michigan -- she has helped individuals, organizations and communities become part of the solution to local concerns.
She received her first taste of social activism in 1950s Chicago, where she held a position as assistant to Leon Despres, a city alderman. She witnessed Despres’ efforts to defend civil and human rights in a city dominated by a political machine.
“He was a man of great integrity and honor, and he got things done that I would never have thought a lone maverick, an independent, could have managed,” Atwood said. “It was from him that I found my footing, my desire to make a difference in the world around me.”
In 1965, after a brief time in Toledo, Ohio, Atwood and her family arrived in Flint. Her husband took a position in the city’s administration, while she intended to stay at home and care for their young daughter.
However, it wasn’t long before the call of a community in need caught her attention.
She remembers the day her husband brought home the job posting. A new organization was being developed for the purpose of connecting local volunteers in Flint with area agencies and programs. And it needed someone to lead the charge.
Atwood felt an immediate connection.
“I’d worked with volunteers in many previous jobs and had come to understand the critical role such individuals have in a community. Here was an opportunity to build something from the ground up. You can bet I jumped at the chance.”
She applied for the position and, on February 14, 1966, became the first director of Flint’s Volunteer Bureau.
Right away, Atwood set about making phone calls and personal visits throughout the community. She began learning “who had what to offer and where it was most needed. And I didn’t leave any stone unturned.”
That tenacity proved useful, as residents and local leaders soon were mobilized into community service at her urging. Many found they simply couldn’t say “no” to the energetic woman who still laughingly refers to herself as “one of the original arm twisters.”
But, she says, those individuals almost unfailingly found themselves exhilarated by the work. Some became lifelong volunteers, actively seeking out new opportunities to become more engaged in their community.
And, Atwood believes, many learned what can be accomplished when people recognize their shared hopes and concerns, and come together to do something about them.
“Those entities traditionally seen as having power -- government officials, policymakers and other leaders -- have an obvious role in creating the systems and resources that support and sustain community change.
“But ultimately, the real source of that change lies within the people who live there. They are the best equipped to figure out where they want to go and what it will take to get them there. And once they find and embrace their power, nothing can hold them back.”
Atwood held firm to that philosophy throughout the 20 years she led the bureau. It remained central to her approach when the agency was renamed the Voluntary Action Center (VAC) in 1989.
And it is evident in her current position as program director of volunteer services at the Resource Center (www.rescen.org), the product of a 1997 merger between VAC and two other Flint area programs. Mott has made four grants totaling $354,650 to the Center since 1998.
Atwood’s accomplishments in Flint read like a recipe for community empowerment. For years, her reference directories of area agencies have helped people locate the programs and services they need. Countless residents have become more engaged in their neighborhoods through the volunteer leadership and placement programs she helped develop. And she has nurtured local grassroots-based action through her participation on numerous committees and task forces.
Her personal commitment to the community also remains clear. When friends and admirers asked to hold a tribute dinner in her honor in 2006, she agreed on the stipulation that the event help generate financial support for the Center’s work.
Even a diagnosis in 2002 of cancer hasn’t stood in Atwood’s way. She balances her medical treatments with office hours at the center, where she often can be found on the phone, helping find creative solutions to local problems.
Indeed, after 55 years in the field and numerous honors and accolades to her name, Atwood says she still experiences “that rush of adrenaline” when a difficult problem comes to her attention. She also enjoys helping others embrace the concept that, through volunteerism and community engagement, a better future for all is within reach.
She admits that attaining such change isn’t always easy.
“It might mean making personal sacrifices or going ‘above and beyond’ to overcome injustice. But either way, in the end you leave the world a better place than how you found it.
“My hope is that, in my own way, I’ve done the same."