CAPCO executive director to retire at the end of this year

CAPCO executive director, Lindy Glennon is retiring from her position. (Photo Source: Kevin L. Smith/The Cortland Voice).

Lindy Glennon, executive director at the Cortland County Community Action Program (CAPCO) for almost 16 years, is retiring from her position effective Dec. 31 of this year.

Glennon knew in March of this year that it was her time to step down.

“When I envisioned how I hoped things would happen, I could not have sat down and written a script that has turned out to be more timely and more perfect with the right people in the right places,” she said. “The work we have done and the spirit of support and collaboration in this community has been amazing.”

Since Glennon joined CAPCO in March of 2006, the organization has seen growth of the services and resources in the community.

Glennon has been at the forefront of programs such as Head Start/Early Head Start, and components of family development including Community Action Angels, Adult Literacy, Family Success Centers, SnackPack program emergency assistance, Healthy Families and more.

Cortland County Community Action Program (CAPCO). (Photo Source: Kevin L. Smith/The Cortland Voice).

For the past five years, Glennon and CAPCO have partnered with Kelly Tobin and YWCA Cortland on the ongoing Parker School building project to develop an early childhood education center in the city of Cortland.

“Lindy and I have strived for one goal, and that is to bring accessible, affordable, quality child care while advocating on behalf of families and providers,” said Tobin, who is the executive director at YWCA Cortland.

Glennon noted that her partnership with Tobin and YWCA Cortland “wasn’t a cooperative collaboration; it was a community collaboration.”

“I’m excited to see what will happen with the project in the future,” she added. “Our vision of this is once this is done, we truly believe it can be a model for so many other communities about the ability to do this.”

Before her time at CAPCO, Glennon worked at PEACE, Inc. in Syracuse as its community director for over 10 years. Prior to PEACE, Inc., she lived in Atlanta for over eight years and worked for the city’s child protective services division.

Glennon moved from the south to the north in the early 1990s due to her husband, Fred, taking a position as a professor at LeMoyne College in Syracuse.

Following her tenure at PEACE, Inc., Glennon considered taking the executive director position at CAPCO. At first, she was unsure about the job.

“I was familiar with community action positions, but wasn’t sure how I felt about it,” Glennon said, adding that multiple people in the mid-2000s reached out to her about the position.

Over 15 years later, Glennon said her time with CAPCO has been “a humbling experience, but one I’m very proud to be part of.”

“The good thing about this community is how close knit it is, and how they work to take care of each other,” she added. “It's been great to collaborate with so many other organizations in Cortland.”

Glennon will be replaced by Greg Richards, who has been CAPCO’s deputy director and previously their first-ever human resources director for the past six years. He will assume the position at the beginning of 2022.

“I look forward to building on Lindy’s legacy as we continue the hard work of fighting poverty and its conditions in our community,” Richards said.

Tobin noted Glennon’s impending departure is a “loss to the community,” but that her retirement is “so deserved.”

“She has served CAPCO and the Cortland community with strong leadership and should feel proud of her work,” Tobin added.

Glennon is planning to move back to Charlotte, North Carolina to be closer to family in the next year or so.

“This is a bittersweet time for the CAPCO family,” said Shelley Warnow, president of the CAPCO Board of Directors. “Under her leadership, CAPCO has grown to be a major provider of child and family services in Cortland County. The Board of Directors wishes to recognize Lindy for all of her hard work and her unwavering commitment to CAPCO’s mission.”