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| Kate Hillman |
By Jacob Fyock and Chris Prenatt
Bengal News West Reporters
Kate Hilliman went from saving people’s
lives, their belongings and pets in New York City during 9/11, to helping low
income kids discover maritime history while learning how to sail along the
coasts of North America.
Now,
she brings her expertise and experience to Buffalo as she takes the reins as
the new executive director at West Side Community
Services , 161 Vermont St.
“This
position I’m in right now is exactly what I wanted, it's exactly what I worked
towards,” Hilliman, 39, said.
Hilliman
got her undergraduate degree in community and regional studies at Bard College
in Annandale-on-Hudson. After graduating, she worked in New York City doing educational
programs and initiatives for the public.
She
also performed heroic duties by helping victims during 9/11 while she was at an
academy training to become a peace officer. When it took place, she was given
an option if she wanted to help out and decided to take it.
“We were not the firefighters or the police, but we were
escorting residents, we were doing a lot of pet rescues,” Hilliman said.
Hilliman then pursued her lifelong goal as a professional
sailor. Travelling one from coast to the next, she noticed that organizations
that owned ships would use them for field trips and programs for
children to attend.
She mentions that these old ships were an amazing
experience because she liked how they challenged kids to do something outside
their comfort zone.
“I never saw that
coming, but it’s really incredible when you get students who don’t have
opportunity or who have behavior problems and more conventional environments
like a classroom or a home,” she said.
She eventually found her way to Buffalo after her husband
Rich convinced her to move. While he started his family business, Hilliman
decided to start her own non-profit that focused on experiential education for
low-income students, writing grants and making sure everything was open and
available.
Hilliman would get her masters in social work at the
University at Buffalo. While getting her degree, she would work at Say Yes to
Education Buffalo. The program focuses on being family support specialist,
meaning that she had to collaborate with families that had a high-risk student
and try to implement a system to make that child better academically in school.
“You have one foot in the school and one foot in the
community and your trying to bridge the gap between the children who are really
struggling in school and whatever is going on at home,” Hilliman said.
Hilliman said the similarities between Say Yes and West
Side Community Services is that she works with the same families. In her new
position, her current goal is to establish a day care center for West Side. The
has been around for a while and hasn’t had a day care in decades, Hilliman
wants to bring it back.
“There was a day care here a long time ago,” Hilliman
said. “Day care is a huge need. This zip code is incredibly diverse in terms of
income levels and backgrounds, so there’s certainly a need for quality child
care in this neighborhood.”
She said that this will be a long-term project and will probably
take about a year.
While her time at West Side Community Services hasn’t
been long, she’s done quite a lot and it has her peers talking. Elizabeth
Murphy, the board president said the decision to hire Hilliman was a good one.
“She had a good background in youth services and she was
a previous E.D. at another organization,” Murphy said. “One thing I noted about
Kate and I think it’s great is she is an excellent communicator. She is
interested is listening to what other people have to say.”
Joanne Butcher, the senior activity coordinator, likes
what Hilliman has done so far.
“[Kate] addresses everything that needs to be addressed
right away and doesn’t put anything on the back burner,” Butcher said. “She is
very efficient and easy to communicate with, she’s good for the job.”
Even
though there are a lot of positives to the West Side Community Services,
Hilliman believes that it needs a facelift. A lot has changed along the West
Side and Hilliman believes a facelift will be beneficial to the organization.
“Since
this place was founded, the community has changed, the demographics changed,
the income levels changed a bit,” Hilliman said. “We
have to go back and say who are we to this community, what are we to this
community and how do we serve them the best.”
