If you’ve visited the Maricopa Community Center recently, you may have noticed a new smiling face. Chance Love began his new role as the center’s community vitality coordinator a month ago, replacing Brandelyn Hughes after she moved to Colorado.  

InMaricopa spoke with Love about his background and first impressions at the community center.  

Tell us about your background.

I’m originally from Inglewood, Calif. My parents still live there, but I’ve been in Maricopa since 2006. I went to ASU and graduated in 2013 with my bachelor of arts in Liberal Studies. 

What was your previous job? 

I worked in the city’s economic development office as a special projects manager. I really enjoyed working with the city manager and getting to see deals put together. I was also a lifestyle director at Province for two years, so this role kind of takes me back to my roots.   

You’re still new to the community center, but what have you enjoyed so far? 

The first thing that comes to mind is the people. Not just the seniors that visit us, but our staff too. We have amazing staff who have great comradery amongst themselves; they have a good system and they really help make my job easier.  

What plans do you have for the community center? 

Brandelyn did a great job in building this program up. She was really dedicated and focused on keeping the calendar full of activities throughout the year. I’m taking her blueprint and looking for ways to elevate it, while also mentoring staff.  

I also learned right away, the Maricopa Outdoor Recreation and Environmental Education (MOREE) trips are a big hit with our seniors, but they don’t really want to do local trips. They want to go outside of Maricopa and do more MOREE trips. We want to revisit that later this year and look at different opportunities with them.  

I also really want to focus on enhancing our programming by bringing in different ideas and fresh perspectives. I’m taking a book out of my former role at Province and looking to create more engaging activities for our seniors.  

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