The Community Success Initiative, The Encouraging Place, & The Palms of Tamar

Present The 1st Annual Daughters of Grace Tea

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21ST, 2015

12:00PM AT TRINITY BAPTIST CHURCH, RALEIGH, NC

“AMERICA IS THE LAND OF THE SECOND CHANCE -

AND WHEN THE GATES OF THE PRISON OPEN, THE

PATH AHEAD SHOULD LEAD TO A BETTER LIFE.”

- UNKNOWN

Dr. Alice Noell  

Dr. Alice Noell’s Professional career has been with Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Developmental Disabilities in the Public and Private Sector for the past 30 years and extensively with female offenders for the past 19 years conducting a transition group under New Life Connection non-profit for five of those years inside the NCCIW- Raleigh Unit.

B . E . L . I . E . V . E

“When she transformed into a

butterfly, the caterpillars spoke not of her beauty, but of her weirdness. They

wanted her to change back into what she

always had been. But she had wings.”

Reggie Edwards Chief Encouraging

Officer The Encouraging Place was created by women for

women. It began more than 10 years ago as the women’s outreach at Building Together Ministries (BTM).

With Reggie Edwards at the helm, that women’s outreach acquired its own 501©3 status and became The Encouraging Place in September 2009 when BTM closed.

We provide support and encouragement for women through Christian inspirational sessions. The only requirement for participating is being female and wanting to get together with other ladies to learn new things, participate in lively discussions, heart to heart sharing, fun and fellowship.

Anita Bennett, Legislative Assistant - NC General Assembly, Raleigh, NC

AccomplishmentsTwenty five years of economic development experience in the arena – community development and small business location, relocation, expansion, and developmentDeveloped, researched, and delivered demographics specific to Raleigh city and county areaFor more than eight years, founded and or managed a non-profit organization dealing with the expansion and development of small businessesTwenty five years of marketing businesses and programs throughout the area EducationWake Technical Community College, Associate in Arts in General Education, Raleigh, NC Graduated May 2013 NC A & T State University, Electrical Engineering, Greensboro, NC 1983-1985Professional ExperienceLegislative Assistant - NC General Assembly, Raleigh, NC

Dr. Pamela D. Herndon

PD Ministries

PAMELA D. HERNDON, A NATIVE NEW YORKER; BORN THE SOLE CHILD TO REV. JAMES & ELDER OPHELIA HERNDON; HAS BEEN AN EXTRAORDINARY GIFT FROM THE BEGINNING. AT AGE SEVEN, SHE REPENTED OF HER SINS AND WAS FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST UNDER THE EVANGELISTISTIC MINISTRY OF PASTOR TANNA SCHOEFIELDCOLE.

TO DATE, DR. PAMELA HERNDON IS THE FOUNDER AND PROUD SHEPHERD OF REMNANT OF CHRIST (ROC) FELLOWSHIP CHURCH (RALEIGH, NC) WHERE GOD IS OUR CHIEF SHEPHERD AND WE ARE THE SHEEP OF HIS PASTURE. SHE IS A DETERMINED WOMAN OF GOD; THE PROUD PARENT OF ONE NATURAL SON AND A HOST OF SPIRITUAL CHILDREN WHO WALKS IN A SPIRIT OF EXCELLENCE AND TENACITY AND BELIEVES IN WHOLLY FOLLOWING GOD TO THE ACQUISITION OF ANSWERING THIS QUESTION: WHAT WILL ONE RECEIVE FOR LIVING HOLY?

Dr. Ruth D. Davis

DR. RUTH D. DAVIS WAS BORN FEBRUARY 26, 1963 IN SOMERSET, NEW JERSEY TO ROSCOE AND GEORGIA MILLER. MOVED TO NORTH CAROLINA MARCH OF 1989 WHERE SHE

SHE HAS MANY YEARS OF EDUCATION WHERE SHE HAS OBTAINED SEVERAL CERTIFICATIONS AND DEGREES IN DIFFERENT AREA OF EXPERTISE. JUST ONE OF THE RESULTS OF HARD WORK AND DEDICATION LAUNCHED HER JOB AS DIRECTOR OF APEX SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY SITE 18.

U.n.D.e.R.s.T.a.N.D

“Put yourself in a state of mind where you say to yourself, ‘Here is an opportunity for me to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own ability to get myself to do whatever is necessary’.

- MLK Jr.

Dennis Gaddy , Executive Director of Community Success Initiative

Along with his duties at CSI, Dennis has served on the Board of Directors of The Triangle Lost Generation Task Force, a organization that has helped to stem the tide of African-American and Latino youth from going to prison, and he also serves as the Criminal Justice Chair for the North Carolina NAACP.Dennis also serves on a national reentry sub-committee, for the Center for State Government's National Reentry Resource Center; most recently, Dennis was selected as  a  Goodman Award from Leadership Triangle--- the award is named after Jim Goodman, Pres/CEO of Capital Broadcasting and parent company of WRAL-TV, Raleigh, NC.Dennis is an entrepreneur and is a partner with Gaddy Success Enterprise.Dennis has been married to Jackie for 32 years and they have two adult daughters, Ashley and April.

Dennis Gaddy is the Executive Director of the Community Success Initiative (CSI), a non profit organization that was created out of a desire to fill a need to see personal growth and development, and leadership principles become a recognized strategy for achieving success in the lives of everyday people, with an emphasis on men and women transitioning from prison, or those who find themselves entangled in the criminal justice system.A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and the Campbell University School of Law, Dennis had a successful career in sales and marketing for 20 years. However after that, due to some poor financial decisions he experienced the pain of bankruptcy, the loss of his law license, and prison. Dennis was incarcerated for five years, eight months in the NC Department of Corrections. Rather than being overcome by either success or failure, Dennis studied both, and learned valuable and positive insights from the past. He learned the value of using the past as a place of reference, but not residence, and designed and teaches a 15-Step leadership course on "How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be".

Lynn Burke,JD

At 24, Lynn Burke was struggling to feed her four children and dealing with her husband’s drug problems. She began writing bad checks and stealing. Within six months she was arrested, and soon she was headed to prison for a second time, sentenced to 10 years for eight felony counts of false pretense. But that life is behind her now.

The next time she stepped into a courtroom was as a law school student, interning for the Wake, Durham, and Orange County Public Defender Offices. Burke earned her law degree from NCCU School of Law in 2010 after graduating with a BSW from NCSU’s Social Work Program and after completing the paralegal certification program at Meredith College. Today.

Linda RossExecutive Director, Triangle Restoration House

Specializing in advocating for and mentoring formerly incarcerated men and women. Linda serves as a relationship and Life Skills Educator and community outreach specialist. In addition, she provide funding for small business owners, forms relationships with business owners to create opportunities for entrepreneurism and encourage others to become challenged to change by improving their quality of life spiritually, financially and physically.

Miea WalkerTraining & Reentry Specialist - Jobs for Life

Miea received her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Shaw University in 2009 and a year later enrolled at Wake Tech for dual degrees in Human Service Technology and Substance Abuse Counseling.

Currently Miea is pursuing her Masters in Social Work from North Carolina State University to become a licensed clinical social worker with a focus in addiction recovery.

Miea's passion is to work with those who are incarcerated and returning home in reducing the stigma and shame associated with having a criminal record. Her passion for social justice and equality has led to advocating for this underserved population to reduce barriers to reentry.