Blog

Celebrating Pride Month Through La’Kimberly’s Story

By Kristal Poland and Jenesis Gibson, DEI committee co-chairs Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. (Library of Congress, 2022). In this article, we take a

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See the Able, Not the Label

written by DEI co-chairs Kristal Poland and Jenesis Gibson When most people think of DEI, we think of racial, gender, and sexual orientation discrimination but rarely do we think about discrimination against disabled persons. For this month, our DEI focus is the world of ableism. Ableism is defined as discrimination in favor of abled-bodied people.

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Closing Speech at the 2022 CTC Breakfast

Written and shared by Carolyn Murphy Thompson, Evergreen Donor As a current board member of Volunteers of America, the Cherish the Children of God Breakfast is a highlight for me each year. In just one hour the goodness of people and the hope of God cements the craggy shards of a broken community into a

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Opening Speech at the 2022 CTC Breakfast

Written and shared by Dr. T. Lamar Goree, Superintendent of Caddo Parish Schools Imagine it’s December 2013. You have the opportunity of a lifetime before you — the opportunity you’ve been preparing for as long as you can remember. And then one day it’s there. Your dreams are becoming a reality. My name is Lamar

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Impact Speech at the 2022 CTC Breakfast

Written and shared by Corey Moore, Veteran  Four years after high school I decided I wanted to do better in life so I joined the military. I ended up in an infantry unit as a diesel mechanic and was sent on two back-to-back combat deployments: Iraq in 2008 and Afghanistan in 2009. When you’re in

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Visionary Speech at the 2022 CTC Breakfast

Written and shared by Carolyn Hammond, President and CEO It is with excitement and a bit of trepidation that I step into the shoes of President and CEO of Volunteers of America North Louisiana. It is an honor to succeed Chuck Meehan after his 33 years of servant leadership. Although my shoe has a higher

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