CONYERS, GA— At the December 6th City Council Meeting for Conyers, Mayor Vince Evans and the City Council Members provided the opportunity to present three local recipients of the inaugural class of the James A “Bud” Cody Community Impact Award recipients. The award, (The Cody) recognizes individuals who have impacted communities via motivation, determination, and innovation. The award honors James A. “Bud” Cody, Executive Director of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association; Director of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes; and Secretary of the Sheriffs’ Retirement Fund for 46 years.
Pastors Ray and Barbara Muse, BOLD Ministries
Pastors Ray and Barbara Muse founded BOLD Ministries in 2007 to provide services through their Summer Food Service Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, and a food pantry. Lastly is Project L.E.A.P., an after-school program in Rockdale County providing S.T.E.M. activities, mentoring, tutoring with homework, and healthy meals. The following exemplifies its success:
Post-assessment — Administered during August 2023:
Hispanic Children: 86% – Scored above adequate & 17% scored at exemplary levels.
African American: 68% – Scored above adequate & 32% – Scored at exemplary levels.
But stories offer a deeper insight. The first example is that with their limited English, first-generation students hear descriptions of animals they believe could only see in their African homeland until a field trip to the Atlanta Zoo. Sadly, one staffer commented, “Anything is exciting when it is not part of the violence witnessed—in the old country and here.”
A second example is a Hispanic brother and sister enduring language issues, progressing from not understanding assignments to transcribing words dictated to them to make exemplary grades.
In 2009, BOLD served 20,000 free summer meals at five sites. In 2022, BOLD served over 1,077,408 free summer and afterschool meals to over 80 locations in 10 counties.
Upon receiving the award, Barbara Muse thanked Derek Marchman, Marchman Consulting for the recognition, especially one in honor of “Bud” Cody and all of his accomplishments, and to be in the same company of the other recipients of the award.
Additional recipients for 2023 include Judge Maureen E. Wood, Rockdale County Juvenile Court, Jim Ellison, Founding Pastor of Newnan City Church, and Greg Dozier, Commissioner of Technical Schools of Georgia.
Past recipients include the First Lady of Georgia, Marty Kemp, Tony Lucas, City of Conyers, Rockdale Superior Nancy N. Bills, and Mona Franklin of the Rockdale Drug-Free Coalition. More information on each winner can be found on the site.
If you know someone who has made a sustainable impact in your community from any field, (add link)
The application process is continuous and does not have a dedicated deadline. For more information, email [email protected] for additional details.
Marchman Consulting aids communities to make an impact by assisting with program data analysis, grant development, implementation, and evaluation for sustainability efforts. An example is the award-winning alcohol risk management (ARM) initiative incorporating development of environmental scans, ordinances, certification courses such as RASS for servers/owners, and training for code enforcement.
James A. “Bud” Cody
