Extracurricular influence

Mathews Jackson may have recently retired from his work as vice president for instruction at Butte College, but he has certainly not retired from community service. It is an essential part of who he is, and his dedication to serving the community is rooted in experiences that go back to the days when he was, himself, a young man.

Perhaps it was his experience growing up as a military brat that gave him such a desire to set down roots. For Matt Jackson, setting down roots means dedication to making the place in which one lives a better place.

That begins with young people. “If you’re not providing alternatives to getting in trouble for kids,” he said, “you’re just not fundamentally connected to the place you live.”

He has lived in Chico since 1965, except for time spent serving in Vietnam in the late ‘60s. He returned from Vietnam to finish his degrees at Chico State. There he met Billie, his wife-to-be, a woman who shares his commitment to community service.

Together, they worked to launch the Boys and Girls Club of the North Valley over a decade ago. That effort was inspired by a young man named Dawud Abdull Haqq, who extolled his own experiences with the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco.

“Dawud knew me,” Jackson said, “and knew of my involvement with organizations like Rotary. Dawud’s experiences had made a significant contribution to his growth and development, and he sought me out to see about the possibility of establishing a Boys and Girls Club in Chico.

“When Dawud called me and shared his story, I knew right away it was something I wanted to get involved with. We started making calls and managed to get then-Chief of Police Mike Dunbaugh involved.”

Things snowballed from there when the Chico Rotary got involved.

Now, with headquarters at Sixth and Wall streets, on property donated by the city, the Boys and Girls Club of Chico has morphed to become the Boys and Girls Club of the North Valley, with locations in Paradise and Oroville, providing adult-supervised after-school activities, mentoring, and a range of other programs to more than 300 Butte County young people each day.

And the expansion continues.

“On the 28th of November, we’re going to be dedicating the Nettleton Gymnasium,” Jackson said, “and the current chief of police, Bruce Hagerty, will soon be taking over as chairman. It speaks to the efficacy of the program when we can point to such dedicated involvement from top law-enforcement officials.”

Despite his work with the Boys and Girls Club of the North Valley, and his active engagement with other organizations such as the NAACP and the CSU Alumni Association, Jackson insists he’s not much of a joiner.

“This isn’t a story about me,” he said, “it’s a story of very hard-working local citizens committed to youth. I was fortunate enough to have been asked to participate at the beginning. The community took it from there.”

But not everyone is willing to expend the energy and the time necessary to make things happen. So why does he?

“When my wife and I were married, early on, and didn’t have a pot to pee in,” he said, “there were many, many generous people who helped us out. I remember when my daughter was born, a man made a very generous gift to us, and we decided then that if and when we had the chance to give back, we would. And our parents also instilled in us the importance of serving our communities.

“We had great role models, and we’ve benefited from the graciousness of others.”

And he walks the walk, participating in the Altruism Program at Chico State, where he mentors students who share his interest in community service.

“I pass on my motto to them,” he said. “When it comes to young people, give ’til it hurts, then give a little more.”—J. O’Neill