Gilmer resident awarded Frank Sheppard Jr. Leadership Award

• Contact: Julie York, 903-843-4019, [email protected]

VICTORIA — Brandon Dodd of Gilmer was recently awarded the Frank Sheppard Jr. 2018 Leadership Award by the Texas Rural Leadership Program, or TRLP, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service community development initiative. 

TRLP is a non-profit corporation formed in 1990 by a group of leaders representing business, civic, education, government and religious organizations across Texas. According to the organization, its goal is to create and deliver leadership programs for rural and other underserved communities by partnering with agencies, including AgriLife Extension, and other organizations.  

In 2014, the Frank Sheppard Jr. Leadership Award was established through the Texas Rural Leadership Program to recognize outstanding servant leadership by graduates of a community’s TRLP class. Dr. Frank Sheppard Jr. graduated from Texas A&M University in 1947, and since that time, he has given his professional life to help rural communities worldwide build on their strengths and assets.

To be eligible for the award, applicants must complete an eight-week Leaders in Action class series to learn to map community assets and use appreciative inquiry as a means of engaging residents in community conversations about the strengths of their community and their visions for its future. They focus on servant leadership and work together as a class to apply those skills in planning and completing a community project.

Dodd was among seven participants in the Upshur County TRLP “Leaders in Action” class of summer 2016, led by seven locally trained facilitators. Dodd collaborated with his classmates to create an Upshur County “Sit-a-Spell Coalition,” in which members initiated conversations with community members and policy makers to improve quality of life and build trust.

Members of the Upshur County TRLP include Dodd, Sara Allen, Beverly Grimes Bobo, Amorette Burch, Greg Burch, Stephanie Drake, Janice Gage, Lynn Gray, Lula Johnson, Linda Koudelka, Tim Marshall, Dacy Tillery, Larry Webb and Julie York.

The Upshur County TRLP class chose as their project to host “Sit-a-Spell” community conversation sessions over a year, with the goal of drawing residents into conversations about their community. Existing programs have gained support from more community members, and new relationships have been developed, said Lynn White, past-president of TRLP.

Dodd shared his various community service activities at the 2018 TRLP Conference, discussing how the most rewarding outcome of his efforts was being invited to serve on the board of directors  of Big Brothers Giving Back, a mentoring group formed primarily to provide guidance for minority youth. The group sponsors fundraisers to continue programs for youths, many from single-parent homes.

“When we see TRLP graduates like Brandon taking a different view of their community and see the assets of the people, the community’s environment, businesses and services rather than just focusing on community problems to drive community development efforts, we see a new energy and stronger relationships emerge,” White said. “We congratulate Brandon on receiving the award and for providing an excellent example for other TRLP graduates.”