The Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson County announced Tavante Calhoun as the new CEO Tuesday morning on their social media.
The announcement comes nearly a month after former CEO, Nyeshia Aldridge, took her new post as the director of community outreach for Emergency Ambulance Service Inc. (EASI) after a decade with the Boys & Girls Club.
"I'm so excited for both Tavante Tom Calhoun and The Club," said Aldridge on social media on the announcement of Calhoun as her successor. "I know we are in good hands."
Calhoun, a Pine Bluff native who had three children grow up in the Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson County, said this was an opportunity for him to be a part of an organization that supported Jefferson County for more than 75 years.
"I want to be of help and be a part of such a powerful organization locally as well as internationally," he said.
Calhoun is currently a social worker with the Pine Bluff School District. Prior to joining the school district in 2021, he worked as an experienced case manager in the mental health care industry at Pinnacle Pointe Behavioral Healthcare System from 2006 to 2021, according to a LinkedIn account.
"I will be ending my tenure with the school district soon," said Calhoun, who has a bachelor's and master's degree in social work. "As far as social work, there won't be a career change as much as the transition into a new position."
Calhoun is also the quality of life coordinator for Go Forward Pine Bluff and is listed on the SEARK website as a board member of the SEARK Foundation.
"I am a supporter of anything positive about the growth of Pine Bluff and Jefferson County," he said.
According to Calhoun, Aldridge did a phenomenal job in leaving the club in great fiscal shape as well as structural shape with the recent partnership with the Pine Bluff Community Center.
The merger between the community center and the Boys & Girls Club was an initiative that was brought to the Pine Bluff City Council in 2021. The addition will add to the club's other two locations, Townsend Park and First United Methodist Church.
"What I want to do more than anything else is continue to expand the club's efforts and give more access to more youth in the community to access the clubs throughout the county," said Calhoun. "The partnership with the city and the Boys & Girls Club has taken place at the community center on a daily basis and we plan on continuing that through the summer. We just want to do all we can to strengthen that relationship and continue to fulfill that obligation from both perspectives.
Excited about his new role, Calhoun said he was thankful to God first of all that the Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson County board members gave him the opportunity to be a part of the organization.
"I'm thankful to my family for allowing me to be a part of this community and I appreciate this opportunity," he said. "I had more than a 10-year relationship with the Boys & Girls Club and coming along and being an official part of the team is just a fulfillment of those opportunities."