The landscape and demographics in Kitsap County have changed greatly in the past three decades, and local population and lifestyle shifts brought an evolution in the needs of the county’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged residents. Through all these fluctuations, one constant has remained: Larry Eyer, perhaps the biggest local champion of the poor and disenfranchised.
Eyer, executive director of Kitsap Community Resources, marks 30 years in his position with the nonprofit organization. But he’s actually worked for KCR longer than that — his first job out of college in the early ‘70s was as housing coordinator with the agency. After working for other nonprofits briefly, he was hired by KCR in 1977 as youth employment manager, and two years later became only the third executive director in the organization’s history.
With about 180 full-time employees and several dozen part-timers, KCR offers a diverse range of services, from early childhood education to employment assistance and weatherization, at four centers around Kitsap. The agency was established in 1965 as a community action program (authorized by a 1964 act of Congress as part of the “war on poverty”) and until 1997 was named Kitsap Community Action Program. Washington State currently has 31 community action agencies that serve 39 counties.
When Eyer came on board, the budget was about one-sixth of what it is today, and there were about 60 percent fewer staff members. The primary focus was on Head Start and a few other programs. Today, the programs in place are designed to fight poverty, domestic violence, homelessness and debilitating health, and they range from prenatal care to job training.
Eyer says one major change through the years is the face of poverty. During KCR’s early days, Kitsap County was more rural and many of the poverty issues were related to people with disabilities. Today, the client makeup includes mostly families, including working families who cannot make ends meet.
“In the past, it was easier to get a job with a living wage and support the family, and not as many had to rely on second incomes,” he says. As the area became more urbanized and lifestyles changed, so has the demographics of poverty. One trend Eyer notes is the loss of a sense of self-sufficiency, as the cost of housing has increased and new generations are less likely to grow their food and look for other sustainable life choices.
Self-sufficiency is a major focus at KCR. Irmgard Davis, KCR director of finance and IT and a 15-year employee, says one change she noted since being with the organization is the development, over time, of requirements those on assistance must meet in order to maintain their benefits. “We are holding people more accountable, while still maintaining the compassion and working with their circumstances,” she says.
The KCR mission is “to create hope and opportunity for low-income Kitsap County residents by providing resources that promote self-sufficiency” and Eyer said any new programs introduced are evaluated on several criteria, with self-sufficiency being at the top. KCR’s goal is to help the families move on to new levels of self-sufficiency, whether that means safe housing, a job or daycare.
Eyer got his first brush with poverty-related issues as a math major in college while volunteering for an international organization. “I was really touched by the struggle of low-income people in our community, locally and internationally,” he says.
That experience changed his mind about his career, and when he moved to Kitsap he was attracted to Kitsap Community Resources because the organization shared many of his values. And while the challenges and strategies of his job changed with the population needs, that compassion for the disenfranchised has not.
“One of the great things about Larry is his passion and commitment in helping the low-income population to become self-sufficient. He’s so passionate about it that he engenders passion and energy into his staff,” says Suzanne Plemmons, community health director with the Kitsap Health District who has been serving on the KCR board for nine years.
And Eyer walks the talk. Employees say he encourages them to be involved in their community, allowing time from work to participate in community organizations. But he also promotes a balance — making sure staff’s family needs are met, whether that’s time off for a school meeting or another flexible arrangement.
That flexibility as well as desire to help create stability for KCR clients are perhaps connected with Eyer’s own family life. “Stability has been a big part of my life. My folks built and lived in their home for 50 years; my dad held the same job for 35 years,” he says. “I moved to Kitsap in 1972, met my wife, Mary, here, and we have lived in the same home the entire marriage. Our two kids, now away in college, were raised in the same house, same church, same CK schools.”
Job stability is another story. While growing steadily and continuously adding new programs, KCR constantly has to think about funding, much of which comes from grants. While programs like Head Start have received funding consistently for four decades, for many grants the agency has to compete every year. “One of the keys is being able to attract the right people to key positions, and having good leadership throughout the agency,” Eyer says.
Those who know Eyer says he has a rare combination of human services, management and entrepreneurial skills. His critical thinking has been credited with the ability to finance KCR’s new green building, for example. The LEED-certified center has consolidated several of KCR’s offices while providing a safe environment for staff and clients, and finding financing for the project required a good business mind.
This forward-thinking talent he possesses is perhaps largely responsible for the numerous new ideas that bore fruit at KCR in the last three decades, often with the help of partnerships.
For example, when access to affordable health care became a challenge in the ‘80s, KCR pulled together a group of leaders to look into the issue. A doctor referral service, then a small clinic, were the result. Over seven years, the program grew, and community health centers were dreamed up — and the spinoff was Peninsula Community Health Services, today an independent nonprofit with several medical and dental clinics serving low-income, uninsured and underserved families.
During his tenure, Eyer helped create the first AmeriCorps program in Kitsap (and in the country); develop the first local self-help housing, energy assistance and ECEAP programs; create CETA youth programs and initiate welfare reform programs like Community Jobs that have put many people to work. The list goes on.
Asked whether he has any unfinished business before he someday retires, he says, “No. My role here, and one of my goals, is to have a vibrant, strong organization the community can count on, and to have good leaders when I’m gone that know instantly what to do, and for my successor to have the resources,” he says. “We’re pretty close to it — we have a strong organization, but everything is ongoing, you can never assume things will stay the same.”
