July 31, 2022- The Jerry J. Dawson Civic Leadership Institute celebrated the accomplishments and achievements of its students at the 2nd annual awards ceremony, hosted at Richland Community College.
The Jerry J. Dawson Civic Leadership Institute, named after Jerry Dawson, former Macon County Sheriff, strives to promote deeper civic engagement, by ensuring students develop understanding of how democracy functions and how to contribute their talents to impact their community.
The program was made possible due to a generous gift of $2.48 million dollars by the Howard G. Buffet Foundation. When program coordinator, Dr. Juanita Morris, started the DCLI program, Howard Buffet encouraged her to trust herself and have trust in the mission. He also stressed to her that some failure may happen, but she shouldn’t get hung up on that.
Two years later and the program is anything but a failure. In fact, it has proven to be one of the most successful programs in the community.
That was evident as several students were recognized for their accomplishments in the program at Saturday’s awards ceremony.
DCLI operates through five pillars, and a couple of those areas were highlighted at the ceremony.
The law enforcement pillar and healthcare pillar are two of the most prominent pillars in the DCLI program as their success is at a high rate.
Take the Residential CNA program for example. Last year, the program finished with all seven of their participants becoming certified as CNAs. This year was no different. All ten of this year’s participants, dubbed the Talented 10, passed their certification exams and are now officially CNAs. Three of those participants were males, the program’s first group of male students.
In addition to recognizing the Talented 10, the DCLI’s first group of medical interpreters were awarded for their completion of the course. The participants will be taking their first board exam next week.
For the law enforcement pillar, several students were recognized for completing a summer law enforcement boot camp. One of the students in the DCLI law enforcement program was the first participant to pass the initial written exam to become a police.
DCLI provides scholarships for DPS students who are engaged in the Civic Leadership Institute during high school. New DCLI Richland Community College scholars were also recognized.
This program continues to succeed but none of this success is possible without the leadership and mentorship of Dr. Morris.
Just ask her students. She received a standing ovation from the crowd, started by a participant’s testimony of how much the students value her.
Traymar Brown, law enforcement boot camp participant & DCLI media intern, believes this program is preparing future generations to become leaders.
“This helps prepare us young leaders as we look to inspire not only our generation but future generations’ progression and growth,” Brown said.
For more information on the DCLI program, visit the website.
Be sure to check out the photo gallery from the awards ceremony on the NowDecatur Facebook page.
