With the scope of services it offers, one might think that the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport boasts a staff the size of a large company. But in reality, the center – which offers after-school programs, a preschool and meals to needy Aquidneck Island families – employs fewer than 20 workers. And that’s largely a testament to the vast responsibilities its leader, Amanda Frye Leinhos, takes on.
Leinhos has spent much of her eight-and-a-half years at the nonprofit working to make it as efficient as possible; she has energized its board of trustees; and she has increased the center’s reach in the community. When she’s not tackling big-picture issues, she is performing day-to-day managerial duties – administrative and fiscal activities, human resources, program management and the oversight of maintenance of the center’s 13,000-square-foot home base.
The results speak for themselves: a 100-percent high school graduation rate for weekly attendees of the after-school program, a summer literacy program that sees most of its enrollees increase their reading levels, and 69,211 meals to local residents in need during 2007.
But what drives Leinhos to work long hours to better her community? According to her 40 Under Forty application, it may be as simple as the instant karma of making a positive difference in people’s lives.
“Tom Fisher, the CEO of Community Care Services, had a commitment … that still inspires me,” she wrote. “ ‘Give it all away,’ he’d say. ‘Give everything away, and it will come back to you.’ ” •
