YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The path that Darlene Jones nearly chose would have taken her life in an entirely different direction.
During her first two years of college, she had been on the pre-med track. As a diversion, she ended up taking a couple business classes, one in marketing and the other in business management.
The content stuck with her.
“It just clicked. It just made sense in my brain,” she recalls.
The decision not to pursue a career as a physician – though she did end up working in the health-care field – eventually brought the New Philadelphia native to her current position as CEO of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Northeast Ohio District Council.
Before joining the organization as CEO, Jones had held positions in hospital administration, including with Steward Health Care and its predecessor organizations, until her retirement in 2017. After retiring, she began doing consulting work.
She took on the local St. Vincent de Paul chapter as a pro bono client that October when the chapter president at the time asked her to help save the troubled organization, which provides services in Trumbull, Ashtabula and Portage counties.
The organization “really just needed a business plan and a model to move forward,” she recalls.
Workflow processes were outdated. “They didn’t have an email address. There were no computers. There was no technology. We didn’t have a donor database,” she says.
Jones initially worked for about nine months with someone who was expected to take on leadership of the organization, but his interest in the position ended. That led to Jones assuming leadership herself.
While the society does important charitable work, it still must be run as a business, which was why the board reached out to her, she says. She also acknowledges that she has been fortunate to have the support of the board.
“Very often, when a business has been run for the same way for decades, there’s a lot of pushback about change. Everyone thinks change is a good idea until you ask them to do it,” she says. “Everyone was willing to upset the apple cart and turn this organization around, and everyone committed to making this happen, which is why we’re here today.”
Susan Franko, president of the Northeast Ohio District Council board, was its vice president at the time Jones came on as CEO. At the time, it operated the dining hall and its thrift store in Warren. “If we made a couple hundred dollars a day, it was a good day,” she reflects.
She acknowledges there was some skepticism initially regarding what Jones thought the organization could do or what it could be.
“She has convinced any doubters that she is able to accomplish what she sets her mind to,” Franko says.
Strategic Plans
The organization has gone through two strategic plans since Jones joined as CEO. It implements programs as needed, avoiding needs that are already covered and leaning into areas where there are gaps in safety net services, Jones says.
Over the years, the organization’s mission hasn’t changed “one iota” but how it addresses needs has. That mission is “to offer a hand up to stabilize someone in the moment but then make sure that they are on a path to becoming self-sufficient,” she says.
“The only way to do that is to treat individuals with dignity and respect,” she adds.
One of the programs the local St. Vincent de Paul council offers is Sleep Soundly, which provides mattresses to people who can’t afford them. Last year, the program provided 476 beds to seniors and families, including 151 to children who had never had their own bed.
“It’s really just looking at the need in the community, what’s not being filled, and then making sure that we are filling those gaps,” she says.
The chapter also is preparing to expand its job training program, which about 30 individuals have gone through already, she reports. Individuals wanting culinary experience work with the organization’s food service manager and can receive ServSafe certification. Participants in the retail program have interned at the society’s thrift store.
“But we have multiple other area partners and businesses that we collaborate with,” she adds. The program also helps individuals seeking job skills training to determine what their aptitudes are. A program director recently was brought on board to launch the program with greater breadth than it now has.
“It’s been in the last three, three and a half years, we realized that in order to affect poverty, you have to do that at a systemic level,” she says. “Because we’re in an area with generational poverty, that means that we have to really get to the root cause of what is causing the poverty in this area.”
Often, that generational poverty comes from individuals who have never been taught the importance of work ethic, or who don’t know how to list their experiences that would make them relevant to an employer. Once program participants are placed in positions, they are taught how to budget and are connected with mentors to provide guidance as new needs and situations arise.
“All of these programs are because of her vision,” Franko remarks. “I am truly amazed at how she not only sees the big picture, but she sees how we should go about to achieve that picture.”
Initiatives
Among the initiatives the organization has taken on is conducting a study to explore the feasibility of developing a community resource center near its offices and dining hall on Niles Road SE in Warren, which would permit it to expand its capacity.
The dining hall now feeds 500 people per day but only can seat 42 at a time, Jones says. The proposed center’s “cafetorium,” as she affectionately calls it, would have seating capacity for 128 people. After the dining session is done at 1 p.m., the space would be available for workforce development, life skills training and financial literacy classes.
In addition, the community resource center would need to be designed to accommodate the local organization’s potential role as a regional disaster services agency.
“My guess is that community resource center may look a little bit different a year from now than the plans we even have now,” she remarks. Nearly $1 million has been raised for the project, which she says she hopes to have fully funded within 18 months.
Jones acknowledges that demand for the services that her organization offers has increased continually over the years. The Covid-19 pandemic that was declared in early 2020 was “life changing for everyone” but requests for assistance have never really dwindled since, she says. Last year’s government shutdown, the loss of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – or SNAP – benefits and increases in the cost of prescription drugs created a “perfect storm” for several weeks.
“I just received numbers that the 211 network in the state of Ohio has seen a 300% increase in food pantry requests, and that’s in the state,” she says. “But I can tell you it, it looks very much the same right here in our local area.”
Volunteers
Jones credits volunteers – including members of the Vincentian community, local churches, businesses and other community partners – as “the secret sauce” of the organization’s success.
“Every time a need increases, we see our volunteers and donors step up – or our community partners step up – and help us fill the need,” she says.
Franko praises Jones for forging collaborations with different community groups so the society’s staff and volunteers aren’t working by themselves. Also, she is well liked and respected by the society’s members and volunteers.
“She always has time for everybody, no matter how busy she is,” she continues.
Jones says she came to the organization “to do a job” but it became more.
“What I didn’t see was that it would end up becoming a ministry, and that really is what it’s become for me,” she reflects.
“I love our members [and] our volunteers. I get to sit and talk one on one with our donors, and, you know, understand where their passion points are,” she continues. “Over all these years, I’ve gotten to know the neighbors that we assist. I know their stories. I know their names. I’ve watched a grandmother raising her four young grandchildren, who lost two of her adult children to drug issues, and so they’ve all become sort of this big, big family for me, and I can’t see myself leaving this organization, even when it’s time to retire.”
Franko recalls one occasion when a man who had been living out of his van pulled into the dining hall parking lot after meal service had ended for the day. Jones asked him to share his story and soon had him in her office and got him food while staff attempted to find a place for him to stay for a few nights.
“That’s the kind of person she is. She has time for everybody,” she says.
Jones, who lives in Howland Township and is married to a local physician, says they enjoy traveling, which she and her husband are able to do more now because their three children are grown. In 2024 they spent seven days cycling through Tuscany, Italy. She also is an avid reader, though she acknowledges she doesn’t read as much as she would like anymore.
“I think my friends will tell you that I just enjoy working. I’m very fortunate I am in a situation that I don’t necessarily have to work for financial reasons,” she says. “I’m very blessed to be in that position, so it allows me to do this and do it because it’s something that I’m passionate about.”
Pictured at top: Darlene Jones, CEO of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
