It’s hard not to be changed by Robert Santana.
He exudes energy from a big frame—no doubt helpful in past service as part of USAF’s 15th Security Forces Squadron in Hawaii.
Yet, he’s not intimidating; more the kind of person others gravitate to, especially children—no doubt vital in his current role as CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Orange Coast in Irvine.
The integration of strength, energy, children, and nonprofit work seems to have attracted and changed some of the more prominent members of OC’s giving community (see story, page 10), who supported the group’s Pursuing Greatness campaign. It raised $7.5 million in gifts and pledges—besting the group’s original goal of $6 million by 25%.
“My husband George and I believe in the potential of all children,” said Julia Argyros, president, Argyros Family Foundation in Costa Mesa.
The couple gave $1.5 million.
“People want to be part of good things,” Santana said, and giving in support of that spanned a wide range. “A parent of one of our kids gave $10.”
Kid Stuff
It’s not uncommon to see smiling, laughing children mob Santana when he visits one of the group’s four sites in Irvine, Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, or Santa Ana.
He loves it.
The kids “have incredible potential,” he told the Business Journal. “They’re enthusiastic about learning [and] excited to do new things.”
Santana grew up, as it happens, in Santa Ana, and as a child came to the Boys & Girls Club there. He returned to the city—and the club—after his stint in the Air Force, becoming a mentor there in 2005.
He saw the club doing well by doing good—giving kids a place to be after school and on weekends.
He also saw untapped potential.
“I thought the club had a real opportunity to invest in the future of these kids,” he said. He was brimming with ideas and when he offered some of them was pleasantly surprised. “They asked me to join the staff.”
At the time he was delving into a career in law enforcement, a natural step for many ex-military men. He’d earned an associate degree in criminal justice and was scouring options for work in the field.
Working for a nonprofit, he told the Business Journal, was not part of the plan.
Growing Up
Santana became operations director in 2005 and was named CEO in 2008.
He earned a bachelor’s focused on child and adolescent development from California State University-Fullerton, then an MBA in organizational leadership from National University.
A 2016 merger brought the four sites under the current Boys & Girls Club group Santana leads. He went from one location and a staff of 12 serving 130 kids, to four clubs, some 60 satellite sites at schools, 175 workers and 9,500 youth served annually.
Santana sees the group as an extension of the family: programs aim to strengthen family ties, while serving an individuals’ needs, whatever their age: early literacy, teen empowerment, college prep.
“One of our core beliefs is that no successful person has gotten where they are by themselves,” he said. “All have had people help them and cheer them on. We are invested in our kids’ future success.”
Pursuing Greatness
Santana credits clubs’ success to his staff’s commitment and hard work, and lauds the group’s board for its support.
It made the “Pursuing Greatness” idea of the campaign a natural outgrowth of a core value.
“We asked ourselves, ‘What can we do to serve the children of the future,’” he said, including kids not yet born. “How do we prepare them for jobs that don’t exist yet? What will families look like? What challenges will they face?”
A partial answer comes in plans enabled by money from the campaign, launched last year. The funds raised will back renovations at the four sites, technology investments, shared spaces such as courtyards and gyms, and art walls to showcase kids’ creativity.
“It’s our jobs to ensure every child has access to the resources, mentors and support they need,” said Julia Argyros, who noted the “investment in our children today and generations of children still to come.”
“We believe in the impact [the clubs] create in the lives of the kids they serve,” said Vicki Booth, president of the Ueberroth Family Foundation in Corona del Mar, which gave $500,000 to the effort.
Booth, the daughter of Ginny and Peter Ueberroth, said the campaign’s conclusion—officially set for when site renovations are done—means more families served “with greater intention and quality [and more] nonprofit and community partners.”
Santana said at that point new work begins.
“The concept of pursuing greatness will continue to drive us,” he said. “We want to raise the expectations these kids have of themselves and help them realize that they really can reach their dreams.”
Three Gens Give Back
It’s no hyperbole to say Boys & Girls Clubs help raise kids.
Actor Denzel Washington, for instance, has regularly lauded the nonprofit’s work in his own life.
Through nearly 50 years, three generations of OC’s Curci family can report similar results.
John L. Curci Sr. is a founding board member of the Newport Beach location and helped establish it in the 1960s. His sons John M., Anthony, and Michael, and his grandsons Nick and Luca, grew up playing basketball at the Costa Mesa club.
The family has been an active OC real estate developer and owner, and involved in the wider local community, for those decades.
The family foundation and John M. Curci’s construction company, DBaC Inc., put $500,000 into the recent effort raising $7.5 million to renovate facilities and improve club programs in those cities, Irvine and Santa Ana.
DBaC is doing most of the general contracting, including design and build work, as in-kind gifts.
Boys & Clubs of Central Orange Coast, which oversees the four sites, plan to honor the family at its gala, “Be Great,” Oct. 26 at Marriott Irvine Spectrum.
Donors to the Pursuing Greatness campaign include:
• Joe MacPherson Foundation, $1.5 million
• Julia and George Argyros, $1.5 million
• From My Heart Foundation, $1 million
• Ueberroth Family Foundation, Curci Family/ DBaC, and Sharon D. Lund Foundation, $500,000 apiece
• O.L. Halsell Foundation, Pacific Life Foundation, and David A. Pyle Foundation, $250,000 each
• Board members Frank and Shannon Tucker and Anne MacPherson $100,000 each
Overall, 45 foundation and corporate donors, along with individual givers, pledged their support, raising more than $7.5 million.
