LYNN — Beth Toolan is the new Executive Director at the nonprofit adult education provider Pathways, formerly known as Operation Bootstrap, on the Lynnway.
Pathways is an adult education center that serves adults in the Lynn area by providing classes in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), adult basic education, GED/HiSET preparation, and US Citizenship.
Beginning in 1976, Bootstrap has served over 15,000 students over the past 40 years, and currently serves about 300 adult students that come from 32 different countries around the world.
Having a career in community engagement, Toolan spent about 20 years working with the Girl Scouts, where she was primarily based out of Lynn and “fell in love” with the city.
While with the Girl Scouts, Toolan held several positions where she focused on building partnerships, community development, and collaborating with other organizations to meet the needs of the community.
After Girl Scouts, Toolan worked as the executive director for Waltham Partnership for Youth, where she focused on core areas including violence prevention, anti-bullying, mental health, and substance abuse.
At the Waltham Partnership for Youth, Toolan worked in partnership with the Waltham Public Schools, to form the Safe School Healthy Students Coalition — a group of educators, parents, local businesses, community members, and youth service organizations that are “instrumental” in helping to develop the Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan.
Toolan also helped obtain a drug-free grant for Waltham Partnership for Youth, as well as other grants to assist the youth in the program.
Toolan also teaches leadership and communication at Northeastern University, so she said she is excited to bring her experience working with adults at Northeastern into her role at Pathways.
Transitioning to Pathways, Toolan said she loves how Lynn is a thriving city that supports its diverse community.
Toolan’s position at Pathways includes community development, networking, distributing money, community engagement, and overseeing programming.
The purpose of Pathways is to “create pathways to jobs and education for lower skilled adults in Lynn and the North Shore area by providing free classes that support our students’,” according to its website.
Toolan began this new position on June 1, and said even though it’s only been a month, she loves it already.
“I get up and look forward to going to work every day,” Toolan said. “Every day is different, and I love being able to help out the city and the people in it.”
Toolan said she told her family that this may be the job she retires at, saying she can see herself enjoying this position and being passionate about it for years.
Allysha Dunnigan can be reached at [email protected]
