Get to know Lauren Fuller: A Q&A with our newest team member
In November, Project Play welcomed Lauren Fuller as the new Program Manager. Lauren joins the team after serving as the Executive Director of Oakland County Sheriff PAL. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience supporting youth through sports, play and out-of-school time programming. Lauren has been a longtime partner and we are thrilled to have her leadership and expertise to help advance our work.
Lauren recently sat down with Briana Mitchell, Program Communications Officer, to talk about her experience and what she’s looking forward to in her new role.
Briana: Can you share a bit about your background and how it led you to Project Play?
Lauren: My background has really led me exactly to this moment. After college, I became a teacher and quickly realized that the ability to create more personalized relationships and provide youth with the individualized opportunities they deserve was a challenge to do in the traditional classroom. So, I quickly moved into the out-of-school time space and have spent time from very grassroots organization with no staff and no budget to larger organizations such as the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit doing curriculum development and staff facilitation. Out-of-school time programs really gave me a broad perspective of southeast Michigan and all of its unique and beautiful needs, challenges and opportunities that I spent four years as the executive director of Oakland County Sheriff PAL, a free police-athletic league serving primarily Pontiac and a broader Oakland County with sports, recreation and mentoring opportunities.
After two weeks of being in this new position at PAL, I was feeling really nervous, wasn’t sure if I knew exactly what I was doing and I was connected with someone from Project Play of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. It was through that initial conversation and the recommendation to try applying for the Legacy grants. I’d never written a grant independently. That experience really kind of launched my professional development and the organization’s professional development.
We received those Legacy grants that year, but it also ignited other conversations with other funding partners and program partners and I began actively working with Project Play to build capacity both within our organization and was just always super curious about how to make things happen for the entire region. Collaboration started as a means of survival and then really turned into our organization thriving. I can link back almost 90% of the opportunities, from financial support to trainings, back to that single conversation that took place four years ago with the grant officer from the Community Foundation.
Briana: What excites you the most about working for Project Play?
Lauren: The thing that excites me the most is really focusing on that collective impact and collaboration with an issue as large as leveling the playing field for youth opportunities in the out-of-school time space for sports and play. We really have to think about it from a collective impact lens. I’ve had the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with a lot of these community partners that are part of Project Play and have the opportunity to meet and work with a lot more and I truly believe in everybody’s assets as individuals as well as organizations to work together. Everybody brings such unique strengths to the table. To be part of the opportunity to convene people and share those ideas and solutions together is incredibly exciting. Working with an organization like the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan that has a level of trust within the broader community is very exciting for me as well. Lots of new learning opportunities that I haven’t had the chance to engage in any position before.
Briana: What are your hopes for the future of youth sports in southeast Michigan?
Lauren: Some of my biggest hopes are ensuring that every single child, regardless of ability level, income level or any other factors that might limit participation, have not only a variety of programs that they can engage and participate in, but that support them through their childhood and use development experience. I think there’s so many great opportunities that exist out there and being able to ensure that every child and family knows about them.
You know, oftentimes we kind of self-select what kind of people our children are going to be and I really want to broaden the opportunities so that they can have a voice in what they want to do, you know, the opportunity to make different friends, the opportunity to try different things and learn from a variety of caring adults. It’s all possible. It’s all happening in small pockets but really building the capacity to ensure that it’s happening for every child at every level of their sports or play journey, period.
Briana: How can we Project Play approach supporting coaches so that they can better support young athletes?
Great question. Obviously, high-quality coaches are a linchpin in the success of sports and play-based programs and a variety of other things in our region. I think the number one thing is we need to help more adults see themselves as coaches. I think the narrative is traditionally if you didn’t play at a high level of a particular sport, then you don’t have the authority to coach children. Especially at those younger levels of influence, if you love children and are willing to learn, chances are any other skill can be taught. If we help more people change the narrative to see themselves as coaches, I think that will activate a lot of people, including myself.
Briana: We know that national trends and studies show that girls are less active than boys in youth sports. Project Play has a goal of getting more girls in the game. How important is it for you as a woman in this space to show up and empower young girls? What can others do to get more girls active in the game?
I think it goes back to what we were talking about earlier — it’s really reframing the narrative of what it means to be an athlete or a coach. The adults need to be part of this narrative reframing. The current narrative is that being involved in sports is a means to an end, and that end is participating in high school or collegiate sports. There are many other inherent values of being part of sports or being active, like meeting other kids, learning about teamwork, building work ethic, feeling supported, improving emotional and mental resilience. I think helping young women understand all of those benefits of being involved in sports and ensuring that all our people leading those programs also are in alignment with those values and really leading with those firsts is going to be paramount to getting more girls in the game. It’s easy to start a girls-based program, but how do we gain and retain kids through that program? How can we continue to support them through that journey? We have a lot of girls that try out and don’t make that middle school team — they’re done for the rest of their lives. How do we catch those young people and provide additional opportunities for them?
As a female leader in the space, I’m helping with that and reframing the narrative of what it means to be a female leader in the realm of sports and activity. You want to retain and support female coaches and staff. We want to educate all male coaches and staff about why this is important as well and why creating opportunities specifically for young ladies is valuable. We also want granting partners to give folks a bit more flexibility to try things out and build new programs that support girls in sports. These are all things that I think are important and definitely within our realm of possibility.
Briana: What activities or hobbies energize you outside of work?
Lauren: We foster a lot of dogs! I’m very big into animal rescue, specifically dogs. We have fostered more than 75 dogs in the past 18 months. I’m not sure if it energizes me, motivates me or if it takes a lot of energy, but it definitely keeps us on our toes. It’s kind of like a full family investment in helping with that. So that’s a big piece of who I am and our identity as a family.
Want to connect with Lauren? Click below to send her a welcome email!
