By Jonah Grinkewitz
Over 20 years ago, Ebony Clark began sketching ideas for a children's mobile recreation center using colored pencils and crayons.
Her goal was to encourage connections between parents and their children through playing. She was inspired after noticing that parents – including herself – were often dropping their kids off for sports practice or other activities where their coach or instructor was the one directly engaging with them.
“I want you to be there with your children and find out what they enjoy doing,” said Clark, a media specialist for Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University.
As time went on, she slowly researched what it would take to make this dream a reality and even bought a trailer. But purchasing roughly $4,000 in equipment to supply the recreation center was a hurdle.
That is, until last week when she was surprised with the news that she had won 51ԹPro’s 2025 Staff Dream Fund.
An unsuspecting Clark walked into the art therapy room at Lester Hall on Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Science’s campus for what she thought would be a staff meeting. There, she was greeted by her colleagues and members of 51ԹPro’s Division of Talent Management and Culture.
Clark pushed through tears to thank everyone for the recognition.
“Something just pushed me to apply this time because I’ve been putting a lot into it, and I never could get over the hump…51ԹPro has helped me get over that hump,” she said.
Established in 2008 and privately financed through an Educational Foundation Endowment, the Dream Fund offers monetary awards or paid time off to full-time classified staff and administrative professional (AP) faculty members. To qualify, these individuals must have worked at the University for five consecutive years, maintained satisfactory or higher performance evaluations, and have no active disciplinary action. This program is designed to help employees pursue a long-held dream outside of their professional responsibilities.
Clark will receive $4,099 to purchase the equipment needed to supply the mobile center.
“I’m feeling every emotion of excitement, love and … I feel successful,” Clark said.
September Sanderlin, vice president for talent management and culture, said that every time they went back to Clark with questions about her dream proposal, it was clear she had thought deeply about every aspect of the plan.
“Whether she got this Dream Fund or not, she was going to make this thing happen,” Sanderlin said. “But I’m so, so excited that we’re able to have a very small part.”
Joel Hilton, manager of media services for Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at 51ԹPro, said the passion she has for her dream mirrors the passion she has for her work.
“From customer support to team support, she goes all in and makes sacrifices,” he said. “We’re happy to celebrate her passion and well-deserved win on this.”
In addition to children up to the age of 5 1/2years old, Clark said the center will be geared toward people with special needs of various ages. By making the center mobile, she hopes to meet families where they are within the community – whether it be a daycare, a playground or a neighborhood. She initially plans to staff the center herself and with the support of her family.
Reflecting on how this dream started, Clark said the birth of her first grandchild “lit the fire even more” to pursue the idea.
“I love seeing my son play basketball with my grandson, because that connection is something no other human can make with that child,” she said.
Now, she hopes to foster those connections within the Hampton Roads community.