It was 1971.
In football, the Cardinals season was off to a promising start – in St. Louis. The team wouldn’t move to Arizona for another 16 years.
In baseball, Jason Giambi and Hall of Famers Pedro Martinez and Ivan Rodriguez were born, but the Arizona Diamondbacks wouldn’t be for another 17 years.
Other than being a Cactus League hub for a few months, Mesa – like most of the East Valley – was best known for its miles and miles of orange groves and dairy farms, with smells ranging from sweet to offensive, depending on the neighborhood.
But, with more people drifting out of the City of Phoenix, U.S. Census figures announced in 1971 that Mesa’s population had nearly doubled over the previous decade.
Though its modest 66,049 population was a long way from the explosive post-2000 growth that would make it home to over a half-million, Mesa was growing from a farm town to a small city.
And with urban growth came urban problems: people struggling to pay rent, victims of domestic violence, drug abuse, broken families.
Enter an agency that took its name from second chances: A New Leaf.
Mike Hughes – who has come to be the face of the social services provider that now employs hundreds and provides assistance to thousands – wasn’t there for A New Leaf’s first day in 1971.
“Oh, no! I was just a year out of high school,” the Long Island native said with a laugh, a touch of a New York accent still audible after all these years.
By the early 1970s he went west to study education at ASU. “My first couple years after graduation, I was a school teacher at Mesa Public Schools in special population, working with troubled kids,” Hughes said.
He loved the work and the city, settling here to raise a family.
Then, in 1978, A New Leaf’s board of directors made Hughes an offer he couldn’t refuse.
It wasn’t just, “Come work for us.”
It was, “Come and be our leader.”
He took the challenge. And he stuck.
For more than four decades of its 50-year run, A New Leaf’s chief executive officer has been Mike Hughes.
This is a rarity in any field, let alone social services, where low-level workers and high-end managers alike hopscotch from agency to agency.
When A New Leaf came calling, the offer certainly got Hughes’ attention.
“I thought it was an extension of what I was doing with kids working at Mesa Schools, helping troubled teen-aged kids. A New Leaf had treatment facilities,” Hughes recalled.
“I was offered a great opportunity. But I struggled on it. I loved my job at Mesa Public Schools.”
The clincher was what A New Leaf’s board of directors promised: You can help us get bigger and better.
They were good to the promise, Hughes said.
“I’ve loved the career,” he said. “I love the board of directors. They’ve always allowed the agency to grow. We’ve been able to grow over the years to where we are today.”
Indeed, A New Leaf has mirrored Mesa’s explosive growth over a half-century.
After 50 years, A New Leaf is nearly a $50 million operation.
The agency’s operating budget is now around $45 million, with 500 employees.
“We’ve grown remarkably over all these years,” Hughes said.
And it’s not just a Mesa/East Valley thing, anymore.
“We have programs throughout metropolitan Phoenix,” Hughes said from his Mesa office.
Indeed, A New Leaf sponsors the likes of Glendale’s Faith House, a shelter for domestic violence victims, Riverboat, a sprawling facility in Surprise, where bingo nights raise funds for the nonprofit’s operations.
Even so, A New Leaf’s history and soul are intertwined with Mesa, where it operates homeless and domestic violence shelters.
A New Leaf often works closely with the city, with programs such as assistance for language- and/or computer-challenged populations, who need help applying for rent and utility assistance funds offered by the city.
As Mesa Vice Mayor Jenn Duff put it, “For 50 years, A New Leaf has been a beacon of hope in our community for so many individuals and families to overcome challenges, and in many cases, crises in their lives. It has evolved over the years with so many programs to offer help and hope to those who need it.”
“Since 1971, A New Leaf has provided assistance to those most in need in our community, helping families, children, and adults overcome the challenges they face,” the nonprofit states on its website.
“These challenges are often unexpected, and can be devastating. Whether it be the loss of a job, a medical crisis, domestic violence, homelessness, or another heartbreaking crisis, A New Leaf is here to help households recover and thrive.”
In the last year, according to its website, A New Leaf provided shelter to 2,247 people.
In addition to shelters, A New Leaf provides “comprehensive services to support individuals and families experiencing homelessness become self-reliant and find safe, stable housing.”
Another 7,776 people received “health and wellness” help from A New Leaf, including treatment for addictions and mental health problems.
The COVID-19 pandemic created a surge of people desperate for help; to keep its own staff working, A New Leaf received $4.7 million in Paycheck Protection Plan federal assistance.
The leader of 500 or so receiving A New Leaf paychecks remains Mike Hughes, who has no plans to slow down.
“I’m the longest-standing employee – I’m still ticking!” he said with a big laugh.
“It’s a great challenge,” he continued, with a shift in tone. “I’m very fortunate. You know people who say they hate what they do? I love my job.
“I always wanted to work helping people.”
Even so, it’s a tough job: Trying to use limited resources to help a seemingly endless number of people needing food, treatment and shelter.
Hughes said he leaves his work at the office, with a positive focus when he walks in his home.
“I know this sounds silly, but I have always been able to do my job and work hard and at the end of day feel good about what I have accomplished rather than feeling bad about what I haven’t. I think that’s been my mantra,” Hughes said.
He still lives in Mesa.
“It’s a great city, great community,” he said. “My kids were all raised here and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Asked about A New Leaf’s plans for 2022, the agency’s leader replied, “Right now we’re really concentrating on how we can become not necessarily bigger, but better. We’re anchoring down on the services we provide.”
Chief among the services is helping people find and maintain stable housing; “It’s such a need,” Hughes said.
Again, he shifts to the positive, the good A New Leaf has done in 50 years.
“It’s a great agency,” Hughes said. “We help a lot of people.
“We helped more than 30,000 people last year.”
Duff, who represents the downtown area, most urban of Mesa’s neighborhoods, added a comment on A New Leaf that echoes on Thanksgiving week:
“All of us in Mesa should be thankful they are in our community.”
A New Leaf is at 868 East University Drive, Mesa. Information: call 480-969-4024 or turnanewleaf.org.
