🔒Pattie Hallberg brought the Girl Scouts into this century

In March, the Girls Scouts of Central & Western Massachusetts moved into its new leadership center on Century Drive in Worcester, a move started nearly 12 years ago when three Girl Scout councils merged into one. Not even a year later, CEO Pattie Hallberg said the new facility already has led to better programming.

How’s the new Girl Scout Leadership Center?

Terrific. It is fantastic. We used to have two buildings on Gold Star Boulevard, and then built this building specifically for the Girls Scouts.

The space allows us to do programming for girls, which was challenging in the old space. Because we were able to build it specifically around our vision, it is amazing. We have all sorts of new technology. We can do training for all our volunteers and do community work, too. We have better parking, better lighting, and a better space all around.

We are working on building out a STEM room. We have everything from computers to robotics and 3D printers. We are looking at making that into a makerspace for girls.

How long were you working on building the center?

It has been a project of our board and staff for at least eight years. We’ve been looking for the right space. We knew we wanted to build, so we have to find the right space we could afford that was accessible. It took a long time to find that place to meet all our needs.

The Girl Scout cookie program is big for us. This new facility allows us to manage that program so much easier.

We built the whole building around our business, and our business is girls.

What made you want to build a new center?

When we merged three different organizations into one, it took awhile to figure out how to best bring the organization together as one. Very early on, we realized the three offices we had were not what the girls of this century need.

We started with the Holyoke building first, because we had to join the offices in East Longmeadow and Florence together. We needed one office easy to get to and easy to use, which we built in 2012. With Worcester’s new building now open, we have two offices focused on what we do and how we do it.

How big of an area does the council cover?

We have 186 towns.

When did you come on as CEO?

I was brought on to manage the merger of the three councils and have just stayed on. Before that, worked for the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Virginia, running all of the education programs. Inventors were just a fantastically wonderful group of people to get to know.

I came here because I care a lot about girls, and I understand these girls need opportunities to understand where they are in the world. I am very proud of the work that we do.

When does the cookie program start?

It starts the middle of January and goes to the middle of March, so there is eight weeks of selling.

When you are buying a box of Girl Scout cookies, you are buying a treat. What you are really buying is this experience for girl. Think about everything that 6-year-old girl is learning about buying, selling, dealing with rejection, handling money, handling inventory.

They have their goals, too. They may be selling for a trip to Europe, or saving for a project. We are teaching them financial literacy and goal-setting.

How much of the council’s revenue comes from cookies?

For the Central & Western council, 60% of our revenue comes from those cookie sales. Nationally, the number is much closer to 70%.

While we have great cookie sellers, our difference is we also have fantastic summer camp programs. Plus, Worcester is a wonderful philanthropic community, and we have plenty of organizations and people in the community who support us.

What’s the most popular cookie?

Thin mints, by a mile.

This interview was conducted and edited for length and clarity by WBJ Editor Brad Kane.