Retiring agency leader embodies community concept

By LINDA M. LINONIS

Vindicator Staff Writer

The United Methodist

Community Center’s executive director counted on her leadership skills to be adaptable, innovative and flexible in meeting changing needs.

For 31 years, Millicent S. Counts guided the center to serve young people and their families in the Mahoning Valley.

“I knew it was important to listen to the people. They tell you what’s needed ... and I designed programs to meet those needs,” she said.

Though she’s retiring, she’ll use her abilities as a consultant with the national division of the United Methodist Church.

Counts recalled how in years past the center was a hub of activity.

“We had a lot of programs for neighborhood children. Kids would walk to the center and go home at 9 p.m.,” she said. That is no longer feasible because the neighborhood has deteriorated.

It was the neighborhood concept that generated the need for the center, which the United Methodist Church met by creating the site at 334 N. Pearl St. in 1918.

“The church established the center to serve Italians who had immigrated to the United States. There were English lessons and day care,” Counts said. It was then known as the Pearl Street Mission.

Counts said the name was changed to United Methodist Community Center in the 1960s.

She came to the center as executive director in 1978 after leaving a position as labor relations representative at General Motors in Lordstown.

“I made a change because I was newly divorced and had two children,” she said, noting that the center job allowed her children to be with her after school. “And they [her children] helped me in whatever we had to do.”

Her daughters are Melissa Shaifer of Richmond, Calif., a stay-at-home mom, and Shannon Counts of Youngstown, a teacher.

“I think it was a good experience for them ... learning how to be part of the community and give back,” she said of her family.

As for her work, Counts said she had to be “on the cutting edge of what the clientele needed.” The programs she has developed are her legacy and attest to her service.

In the 1980s, she developed a sexual abuse prevention program. “We taught children how to be their own best advocate,” she said. “We helped with referral services for agencies. Statistics showed that one in four females had been abused sexually and one in eight males.”

Counts also noted that the center offered services to women in prison. “We worked in a pre-release program in Cleveland so that women would have a successful re-entry,” she said.

Counts said the center no longer does those two programs. “You have to move on and do something else.”

Some programs are based at the site of service. “We now provide Family Readiness at every public school in Youngstown,” Counts said. The school-based services are designed to identify, address and improve students’ overall performance in the classroom and foster success in the school.

“We look at what issues the child is facing and the family situation. You can’t treat a child in a vacuum,” Counts said. “We get great cooperation,” she said, noting the team approach includes school personnel and community leaders.

As part of her work with the national Methodist church, Counts was involved in mission work in Zaire, Africa, where she set up a village for unaccompanied children fleeing Rwanda. “Their parents were dead, missing or separated from them,” Counts recalled of the village with some 150 children. “It was life-changing because I saw the carnage. So many died before they got to the border.”

“It made me realize more how blessed we are to live in the United States,” she said. “It was a gratifying experience ... the ride of a lifetime.”

Service to the national church has allowed her to see the world and more of America. “I had an opportunity to see the world,” she said. “But it was about service to mankind, and to be able to serve mankind is one of the best gifts I will ever receive.”

A member of Centenary United Methodist Church, Counts said a “strong faith” plays an important role in her work and life.

linonis@vindy.com